Epidermal vs Dermal Pigmentation – what’s the difference?

Pigmentation occurs most commonly in the epidermis (called epidermal pigment when it is only in the epidermis), but it can extend into the dermis (called dermal pigment). This page provides a brief overview of the layers of skin.

Dermal pigment is much harder to remove than epidermal pigment. It is impervious to topical brighteners because those ingredients don’t usually reach the dermis. Lasers are required to remove dermal pigment because they can penetrate to the dermis. If you have spots that don’t respond to topical brightening treatments, you may have dermal pigmentation.

Freckles are normally in the epidermis. Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation and melasma can be epidermal or dermal.

In natural sunlight, epidermal pigmentation is light brown, dermal pigmentation is dark brown or gray.

The Wood’s lamp can distinguish them more clearly. Under the Wood’s lamp, dermal pigment is lighter in color, epidermal pigment is darker.