Chloasma, or pregnancy mask, is a darkening of the skin on the face. It is triggered by sun exposure and hormonal changes and it occurs in 70% of pregant women.
"The best thing to do is wait. Chloasma often goes away a few months after your pregnancy is over. In the meantime, avoid using any facial cleansers, skin creams, or makeup that irritate your skin -- they can make chloasma worse. And, of course, stay out of the sun.
If the dark patches don't fade a few months after your pregnancy, you can try over-the-counter bleaching creams containing low doses of hydroquinone. (These work best if the darker pigmentation is a mild form, limited to the top layers of skin cells.) The creams don't actually bleach your skin, but rather prevent melanocytes from overproducing pigment. It takes several months of using the creams to notice an improvement."
I got this information from this website.
http://healthresources.caremark.com/topic/chloasma
They also have reccomendations of what to do if it still does not go away, as they say "Bringing Out The Big Guns". I have also seen on other boards that some women have said that it took 2 1/2 years for it to disappear. They were breast feeding for two years. I think in some women it will stick around longer especially if they are breast feeding because your homone levels are still not normal when you are doing this.
I hope this helps you.
Pigmentation on face
Dear Macgirl,
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