TOPLINE:
A study found that fourth-generation progestins in oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) were associated with more than double the risk for melasma than with no exposure, while third-generation progestins showed the lowest risk among all synthetic progestin types.
METHODOLOGY:
- Researchers analyzed data from 51,101 women with melasma and 51,101 matched controls without melasma using the TriNetX research network on March 25, 2025.
- The mean age of participants was 45.1 years. About 54% of participants were White, about 14% were Black, about 8% were Asian, and nearly 15% were Hispanic/Latino.
- Those with melasma had a higher prevalence of exposure to estrogen/progestin combinations (21.58% vs 10.03%; P < .001) and to progestins alone (15.04% vs 7.75%; P < .001) than those without…