Does Tranexamic Acid Skincare Only Work On Asians and Darker Skin Tone?

 Tranexamic acid is a amino acid derivative that's commonly used for blood clotting.

however; in the recent years its show that consuming tranexamic acid helps in lightening skin; and so most dermatologist and aesthetic doctors started prescribing it for hyperpigmentation or PIH (post inflammatory hyperpigmentation).

Sometime In later 1990's more topical formulation was compounded and people started applying it on skin instead of consuming it (because of the potential side effect).

Many claims that these skincare doesn't work as well as taking it orally; but surprisingly; most clinical trials that was done on asian skin; shows tremendous results. 

Making me wonder; if indeed the treatment for hyperpigmentation in asian shouldn't be the same as people with fairer skin (Fitzpatrick scale type 1 & 2).

You see most asians are in type 3 above; even the fairest of all is usually at least olive toned. and so because of that; we asians tend to have more 'melanin' compared to type 1 and 2. Melanin is the one that cause the darkening of the skin. And so because of that; the more melanin we have; the darker we are (which is a good thing coz we have natural in built spf!)

But; because of this; when we tend to get older (above 27 yrs old); our skin goes a little haywire; and so we start getting uneven skin tone, and darkening of skin, and if we by 'luck' have any acne; it will take ages to get rid of the dark spot that the acne causes (PIH).

and so all this; its coz of the melanin, and that is what tranexamic acid targets.

the real mechanism of action for Tranexamic acid is unknown.

Some say its a tyrosinase inhibitor where it reduce melanin production hence lightening skin, and some say coz its a plasmin enzyme inhibitor where it stops the breakdown of blood clot. you see in skin, the plasmin breakdown collagen, leading to an excess of pigment formation. and so when you use tranexamic acid; it increases collagen production, which eventually reduces hyperpigmentation.

Either way; it still works for lightening the skin which is awesome!

Now why is there very 'little' tranexamic acid products in the market? well; believe it or not; you probably won't find many in the main stream market or in the product that's catered to the western countries (coz most people there ar type 1 and type 2 in the Fitzpatrick scale) but you find it a lot in Korean and Japanese products! 

Yes you won't be able to read the ingredients but its there! 

Even when I was doing clinical research for Tranexamic acid when I was making the Tranexamic Acid Serum for The Chemist; I found many many studies (if not all) done successfully only on Asian Skin! 

Heres the list of some of the studies I found;

Clinical Research Proof:

1. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study by Kameyama et al. (1999) investigated the effects of topical tranexamic acid on melasma in 60 Japanese women. The study found that tranexamic acid significantly improved melasma after 12 weeks of treatment.

2. 
   

   A randomized controlled trial by Lee et al. (2006) compared the effects of topical tranexamic acid to those of topical hydroquinone in 70 Korean women with melasma. The study found that both treatments significantly improved melasma, but tranexamic acid had fewer side effects.

   
   

3. A study by Nakajima et al. (2014) examined the effects of a topical tranexamic acid solution on post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation in 33 Japanese women. The study found that tranexamic acid significantly reduced the appearance of hyperpigmentation after 8 weeks of treatment.

   
   

4. A randomized controlled trial by Goh et al. (2018) compared the effects of a topical tranexamic acid serum to those of a placebo serum in 40 Singaporean women with melasma. The study found that tranexamic acid significantly reduced the appearance of melasma and improved overall skin tone after 12 weeks of treatment.

   
   

5. A randomized controlled trial by Hong et al. (2020) compared the effects of a topical tranexamic acid cream to those of a placebo cream in 61 Korean women with melasma. The study found that tranexamic acid significantly improved melasma and overall skin tone after 12 weeks of treatment.

6. 
   

   A randomized controlled trial by Zhu et al. (2021) compared the effects of a topical tranexamic acid cream to those of a placebo cream in 78 Chinese women with melasma. The study found that tranexamic acid significantly improved melasma and reduced the amount of melanin in the skin after 8 weeks of treatment.

Conclusion:

So you see; this is what tranexamic acid serum does to the skin and its mostly applicable to asian skin and darker skin that are on the scale of type 3 above in the Fitzpatrick scale.

A lot of mainstream marketing claims that tranexamic acid doesn't work of skin; but its probably because it was used and made for type 1 and 2 (fairer skin) patients (You know how most main stream products are  mainly marketed for the western market and we asians just use it coz its famous; I'm guilty for that too) but when you see the clinical trials on darker skin tone; they worked like a charm!

 

Even for me; we released The Chemist;s Tranexamic acid serum last November (2022) and within a month we started having positive feedbacks so I really think its all about the skin tone. 

For those of you suffering for pigmentation issue and haven't found a solution for this; do check out products that's uses tranexamic acid. who knows; it might help:-) 

Nisha