The short answer
Melasma = جھائیاں (jhaiyan). Some doctors and pharmacies also write it as کلف (kalaf), and the pregnancy form is sometimes called ماسک آف پریگنینسی. There is no single official Urdu clinical term, which is part of why the word is used so loosely.
If a dermatologist has written "melasma" on a slip and you are reading this to find out what they meant: they mean the brown patches are symmetrical, they sit deeper than an ordinary dark spot, they are linked to hormones and heat, and they are managed rather than cured. That last part is the piece most often left unsaid in the appointment.
Jhaiyan covers three different things, and only one of them is melasma
In everyday Urdu, jhaiyan gets applied to melasma, to freckles and to the marks left behind by pimples. They look similar in a mirror and behave completely differently on treatment, so the first useful step is working out which one you have.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Melasma (جھائیاں) | Freckles (چھائیاں) | Post-acne marks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pattern | Symmetrical patches, both cheeks | Small scattered dots | Exactly where a spot was |
| Starts with | Pregnancy, contraceptives, heat, sun | Sun, often from childhood | A pimple that healed |
| Comes back | Commonly | Darkens each summer | No, once gone |
| Fades on its own | Sometimes after pregnancy | Partly in winter | Yes, over 8–12 weeks |
| Responds to creams | Partly, slowly | Partly | Well |
Why it happens here in particular
Melasma darkens with heat and visible light, not only with ultraviolet. In Pakistan that means a cooking stove, a tandoor, a midday commute on a bike and a hot kitchen all count as exposure, which is why people who wear sunscreen carefully still watch it darken every summer.
The hormonal triggers are pregnancy, combined oral contraceptives and hormonal IUDs, and thyroid disorder is associated with it. None of that is a reason to stop a prescribed medicine on your own — it is a reason to raise the patches with the doctor who prescribed it, because a change they consider routine can decide whether any cream works at all.
Can it be removed permanently
No, and any product promising that is telling you something untrue. Melasma is managed: the patches can be made much lighter and held there, and they darken again when sun, heat or hormones change. Treatment that works is slow and gentle, because melasma sits partly in the deeper layer of skin and inflammation makes it darker.
This is the reason the unlabelled mix creams sold for jhaiyan in Pakistani markets are the worst thing you can put on it. They typically combine a steroid, hydroquinone and a retinoid, they lighten fast, and then they thin the skin, spread visible vessels and rebound darker than where you started. Speed is the property that should disqualify a melasma cream, not the one that sells it.
What to do next
Protect against light and heat first, treat slowly second. A broad-spectrum SPF 50 — tinted, because the iron oxides in it block visible light that clear filters do not — does more for melasma than any cream. After that, alpha arbutin, niacinamide, azelaic acid and vitamin C all have evidence behind them when used patiently.
For melasma, sunscreen is the step that matters most, and a tinted one blocks visible light as well as UV. Our Primer Gel Sunscreen is clear, so for melasma buy a tinted formula wherever you like. What we do make is a night cream carrying alpha arbutin 2% and niacinamide 5% at stated percentages. The melasma guide linked below prices it against Jenpharm, Derma Shine, The Ordinary and prescription hydroquinone, and says plainly where each is the better choice.
