Melasma is a human melanogenesis dysfunction that results in localized, chronic acquired hypermelanosis of the skin. It occurs symmetrically on sunexposed areas of the body, and affects especially women in menacme.1
The word melasma originates from the Greek root "melas", which means black, and refers to its brownish clinical presentation. The designations: "mask of pregnancy", liver spots, uterine chloasma, chloasma gravidarum, and chloasma virginum do not fully characterize the disease, nor are semantically appropriate, although the term "chloasma" (derived from the Latin chlóos and the Greek cloazein: greenish) is still used in the medical literature