Melasma is such a difficult skin condition to completely get rid of, even famous supermodels can’t escape it. Earlier this week Veronica Webb bravely shared a series of bare-faced images on Instagram to show followers what she looks like behind the foundation.
“This is what my skin looks like 90 percent of the time without makeup,” she wrote. The snaps reveal patches of discoloration on her face, which is not how we’re normally used to seeing the model turned lifestyle blogger, but showed off her natural beauty nonetheless.
As she shares with NewBeauty, Webb says she lives with patches of melasma on her nose and cheeks that at times has made her want to hide her bare skin from view. But now, after adopting a treatment protocol to help reduce its appearance and avoid triggers, she is sharing her skin concerns with her Webbonthefly.com readers and social media followers to help others feel more secure with their imperfections, too.
NewBeauty: How long have you been dealing with discoloration?
Veronica Webb: You know, it started with the appearance of freckles in the summer around the time I was 10 years old. The freckles would fade away in the winter and return every summer. The freckles were adorable. Pregnancy brought out patches of melasma on my nose and cheeks that faded away naturally postpartum. Menopause sealed the deal and melasma and I are now partners for life it seems.
NewBeauty: What has helped you the most in dealing with it?
VW: Laser skin resurfacing and IPL treatments help enormously and so does the 10 Hour Mask. Musely makes a Tretinoin based cream that is fast and effective and the most affordable of the all the options. All of these fixes are costly and temporary to be honest. I invest when I have a major booking or when I feel like I want to look a little fresher. I’ve stopped using chemicals like hydroquinone on a daily basis because I want to limit my body’s chemical burden.
NewBeauty: What has the response been since you posted this image?
VW: The point of the post for me was to talk about how healthy it is to let go of self-limiting beliefs—we all have some type of flaw that if we’re not careful can end up defining us in negative ways. Melasma always makes me feel like I had to hide my skin, hide from the sun, hide the fact that my skin is less than “perfect” from the world or I would be judged negatively. So many people wrote that they feel that way too and the post helped them realize the power we all have to use simple tools like makeup to turn a situation around.
