This is education, not advice
The information here is written for the general reader and does not replace a personal medical consultation. It cannot tell you whether the patches on your face are melasma, what is driving them, or whether a particular treatment is appropriate for your skin, your health or your circumstances.
Melasma is managed, not cured
Melasma is a chronic, relapsing condition. Treatment lightens the patches and maintenance keeps them lighter; no treatment removes them permanently, and no treatment prevents them returning if the factors that drive them continue. Anyone describing a permanent cure for melasma is describing something that does not exist.
Treatment lightens rather than removes
The realistic aim is a lighter, more even face, judged over months against consistent photographs in consistent light. Results vary with the depth and pattern of the pigment, skin tone, what is driving the condition and how consistently protection and maintenance are kept up. No outcome and no number of sessions can be guaranteed.
Some treatments can make it worse
Aggressive laser treatment can inflame the skin and cause rebound darkening, and unregulated lightening creams may contain potent steroids or mercury. Where a treatment carries that risk, it is stated on this site alongside what the treatment can do, and the decision is made after an assessment rather than before one.