Hormones
Your skin has certain cells, called melanocytes, which form melanin. In your genital area, those melanocytes are particularly sensitive to hormones.
“The genital area gradually becomes darker in response to hormonal changes over time,” explains Tamika Cross, MD, a board certified OB-GYN based in Houston, Texas, and co-owner of Serenity Women’s Health & MedSpa.
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“This can be during puberty, pregnancy, or aging in general,” adds Cross. “For example, estrogen is one of the hormones that can result in increased pigment in certain areas such as the labia.”
It can also darken the skin on or around your nipples, areolae, and anus, too.
“During puberty and pregnancy, estrogen levels are elevated, which results in increased pigmentation of those areas,” Cross says. “Most times if this happens, it doesn’t go away. If anything, it stays the same or darkens more.”
Friction and inflammation
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An increase in friction can lead to an increased potential for melanocyte hyperactivity, says Goldstein.
In other words, friction can cause those cells to produce more melanin, leading to pigmentation.
For example, says Goldstein, “sex and all that comes with it brings elevated friction to the area,” leading to a color change. Both vaginal and anal sex can cause this kind of friction.
The labia and upper thigh area, particularly in the skin folds in your groin area, can also darken because of daily rubbing or the trauma of childbirth.
“With constant rubbing or trauma, the skin undergoes a process called keratinization, which matures the cells towards the outermost layer of skin,” explains Cross.
“These cells have melanin in them, [so] this process results in thicker and darker skin in those areas,” adds Cross.
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Shaving and hair removal products can also lead to darkening of the skin for the same reason.
Friction can also lead to inflammation in the skin, which can in turn cause post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.
“We see this, for example, after a pimple,” says King, as well as “in the folds of the groin, [where] there can be inflammation caused by moist skin rubbing against moist skin — a condition called intertrigo.”
Yeast infections, ingrown hairs, and folliculitis can cause post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, too.
Aging
Darkening in your genital area usually comes with age, says Cross.
This is because your skin has experienced more years of repeated trauma or has gone through more hormonal changes.
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHY
