Evaluation of Licorice efficacy on melasma

Treatment of melasma has remained a hot topic in dermatology because of its resistance to therapy and high recurrence rate. For many years hydroquinone was the foundation of melasma treatment, but its use has been limited during these years due to a number of adverse events, such as skin irritation, hyper and hypo pigmentation, nail discoloration, conjunctival melanosis and ochronosis. Furthermore hydroquinone is quite unstable and is quickly oxidized and become inactive. So Hydroquinone is gradually being replaced by new lightning substances, such as kojic acid, phytic acid, azaleic acid, arbutin, mequinol, aleosin, ascorbic acid, soya proteins, N-acetyl glucosamine and licorice. In this study we evaluate the effect of a licorice containing product (lightening serum, LANGE Paris) for the treatment of melasma. There are several active ingredients in licorice extract effective on melasma. These are liquiritin, glabridin, licochalcone A and isoliquertin.