Y’all know my fight with “spots” – specifically with melasma which I have to believe was hormone triggered. One week I only had freckles, the next I had giant blotchy patches all over my face. I hated it. As you know I’ve tried over the counter skincare which I reviewed here and here. I’ve tried green light gadgets to lessen pigmentation which I discussed here. And I finally decided to test out the gold standard for stubborn spots and melasma reduction – Hydroquinone.
I decided to go with Musely for two reasons. First, they did not require an in office consultation but allow users to submit pictures and have a remote interaction with the dermatologist. While I wouldn’t recommend this for someone who is struggling with real issues, I think for something topical like melasma, it seems okay. They take the time to ask questions, look at pictures and briefly interact with you. Second, they customize a formula to your needs and skin sensitivity and walk you through the first several months of use if you need it. This was very appealing to me.
Skincare Refresher
Just to get us all back on the same page, there are a number of treatments you can try to reduce the look of age spots, sunspots, melasma and hyperpigmentation. Some have very decent outcomes but the dermatology profession still regards hydroquinone as the gold standard.
It is actually banned as an ingredient in some countries because there are studies which question if it’s toxic to use for too long. I’m not even going to delve into that controversy because honestly for as much reading and research as I’ve done on the subject, I remain undecided about where my opinion falls. I guess it’s safe to say that I felt comfortable enough with it to give it a go.
The Process
The process is pretty simple. Sign up on the website, upload some pictures, answer some questions, quick interaction with the doctor and the custom solution is written up and filled for you.
I had a little challenge with shipping initially, but in fairness to Musely, this wasn’t their fault. The US Postal Service basically lost the package for six weeks during the mail back up at the end of the year.
I will say that I was underwhelmed by Musely’s customer service but that’s par for the course for these days. They didn’t wow me but they weren’t any worse or better than any other faceless internet company so I’ll count that as a wash.
Once my custom formula arrived, it included instructions directly on the bottle for me. The instructions on the website say two pumps but my instructions indicated one pump. I only used one to follow the doctor’s directions.
The Phone App
Musely has a phone app to accompany its product and you have to use it to be eligible for their money back guarantee. I dutifully downloaded it, set up my account and logged in. Essentially it touts itself as access to a nurse, but it’s really a bunch of blog articles and a user community. There is a built in calendar and you can choose to set reminders to use your formula every day. You are also prompted to upload pictures of your face daily to show progress.
Now…I get this. They need some evidence the product is being used as expected to put a money back guarantee with it. I would do the same if I was in their shoes. However, personally it creeps me out to upload that many photos of myself without a clear understanding of what usage rights I may be conferring to them. I also am a little nutty about internet security and back end security (a by product of my OTHER job) so I don’t like to share more than I need to. Therefore, I decided on day two or three to STOP using the app and forgo the money back guarantee.
The Outcome
Again, let me point out that I am fairly non-compliant so I don’t love following “rules”. Arguably I probably should have given Musely a few months try with several iterations of subscription refills. However, I chose to test out a single bottle and see what I thought. Well, a single bottle is supposed to last for 30 days (theoretically since the subscription refills it monthly). Using the single pump indicated on my prescription insert, one container lasted me two months. I was nervous perhaps I didn’t use enough, but one pump was more than sufficient to cover all of the melasma spots on my face.
I routinely use tretinoin (retinal) which can boost the effectiveness of hydroquinone. I started cautiously with the musely Spot Cream and skipped my tretinoin for the first few days. I discovered that using the spot cream made my skin peel. It’s not as though the underlying skin was dry, but I kept sloughing off layers of skin. I went to the Musely app which recommended skipping every other day to see how that went. I tried skipping days, using it WITH tretinoin, without tretinoin, with different moisturizers and no matter what I tried, for the first 45 days, my skin peeled and peeled and peeled.
I can’t say it was only the Musely but I also can’t say it wasn’t.
Finally, as I started listening to my skin more,I added in a facial oil in the evening which seemed to do the trick and stop most of the peeling. It was a cold, dry winter so that’s probably at least part of the problem.
We all like a good before and after, so here you are. Judge for yourself and then I’ll share my opinion.
Do you see a difference? I don’t.
I don’t have foundation on in either set of photos and they were taken in front of the same window, but clearly the lighting is a bit different which made the second one clearer. Perhaps (and this might be a reach) the blotchy areas are breaking up a bit, and I DO see the discoloration over my eyebrows (which really bugged me) is all but gone – but nothing dramatic.
My Takeaway
Here’s my totally non-scientific, gut feeling about this. I am trusting that the formulation I received had the adequate amount of viable hydroquinone in it. Given that and the feedback I’ve read on the application, this may not work for everyone. There are users who swear they’ve used it for a year or more and it took that long to really clear it up. I don’t have that kind of patience. I might continue for one more bottle, but I think this just may not produce dramatic results for me.
The good news is, I think the green light therapy did have dramatic results. I did NOT pair them but maybe I’ll do that and see if they can boost one another.
So my silver lining is, the gold standard did not produce visible results for me, but I have seen improvement using the over the counter skin care regularly, the green light therapy and sunscreen daily. I guess this means I can stay the course on my non-hydroquinone approaches.
As for a rating. I’m going to give it a neutral.
Have you tried Musely? If yes, please let your feedback and experience below so we can learn from each other.
