As a Dermatologist, I always felt like I knew the best lightening ingredient; hydroquinone (HQ). At the risk of being too old school, I try to keep up with whatever new treatments are out there, claiming to replace or outpace HQ. I gave a long-term personal trial to Shiseido’s White Lucent Intensive Spot Targeting Serum (what a mouthful!) to treat my own brown spots. Unfortunately I came limping back to my prescription HQ cream, spotty and disappointed.
Shiseido is always looking for innovative ways to improve skin tone while still being gentle. The lightening ingredients in this serum are 4MSK (a 
salicylic acid cousin) and m-Tranexamic acid along with Vitamin C. Now, m-Tranexamic acid has been found in studies to give noticeable improvement to brown spots, especially when coupled with Vitamin C. I can appreciate the science but I just didn’t see the brown spots fade. I used the serum for over six weeks, morning and night. It is pleasant, spreads easily and is not irritating. I just couldn’t find any noticeable improvement! So either my brown spots are just too horrible or this cream is not powerful enough for the big price ($125 for 1oz) and the big claims. Maybe it’s a little bit of both…
Don’t fret! I will not give up my quest to find non-prescription strength options for treating brown spots. Kojic acid gets a lot of attention as a pigment lightening ingredient, so that’s probably my next trial. La Roche-Posay has a product called Mela-D Pigment Control Serum, containing Kojic acid, glycolic acid and a alpha-hydroxy acid. Sounds like a dream team of anti-pigment and anti-aging. Stay tuned….
