I've Made My Decision

Although everyone else thinks that Civant's melederm can't be used to lighten the OVERALL complexion, I emailed the customer service people about it, and this is what they said:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting us. The Melederm Complex works very well to
brighten the overall skin tone by lightening hyperpigmented skin. Though
there are some whitening effects of the product after extended use, we
do not recommend you use the cream for sole purpose of lightening your
natural skin tone by a large degree. Removing large amounts of your
normal skin color (through the use of any skin lightening cream) will
decrease your skin's natural defense against ultraviolet light which can
lead to excessive sun sensitivity and skin irritation. We do, however,
encourage customers to use the product to restore/brighten skin that has
been darkened by hyperpigmentation. If you have any other questions,
please email us again.


Sincerely,

Customer Service
Civant Skincare
civantskin.com

What do you all think about using melederm now? (Some of this was a little confusing.) Also, I don't think a new product is actually going to be released.

brighten is not really the same as lighten. when i think of "brighten" im thinking that it refers to evening skin tone. if you have really really dark skin stuff like melederm might not be strong enought to significantly lighten your overall skin tone. its definatly worth a try cause its one of the safer methods right now.

ive seen you, vtoodler, on the brighter skin forum and alot of women were talking about makari. is there a reason you chose melederm over makari? anyways, i got problems with both. melederm is chuck full of different lighteners and i wonder if any one of them are in strong enough concentrations to be effectively used together. sometimes its better to have 1 strong active then many weak ones. also melederm contain mineral oil which prevents absorption of all those actives. so the formula for melederm could have incorperated emollients and emolsifyers that support absorption cause that alone can really affect how quickly someone responds to skin lightening.

it might be worth your while to buy samples ( or the smallest available size) of both some of makari's products (night cream and the lightening milk), fair and flawless (5x gel) and a 2oz jar of melederm complex and do a test. thats really the only way you will know what works for you. it can get a bit expensive but you will safe money in the long wrong if you test all thee together is generally the same location and compare your results after 2-4 weeks. it beats buying 8 oz jar of melederm only to find that it doesnt work and youve just wasted 6 oz worth of product that could have been used to test something else.
generally all the skin lighening creams work. so looking for reviews on forums only will give you a limited view of what you can expect. so you definatly are going to have to try stuff to know for sure what will work for you.

I will post a picture soon, but I did not take one 3 weeks ago. I will try to take them under the same lighting conditions, in the same room (background colour can alter results) and at the same time of day. I am not at all offended and i understand why you'd want to see. Because of all the photoshopping & playing with lighting, I wanted to avoid this method because even then, you can never be sure that I am not some nut who is deceiving people. I am gauging my results by the foundation (makeup) colour that blends into my skin. At the beginning, I used Maybelline's Dream Matte Mousse in Dark 2. It was not too light but brightened a little. After a couple of weeks, I needed to use Dark 1 to get the same results. Now, today, Dark 1 disappears into my skin & you cannot see it. By the end of this week, I'll need to use Dark 0. Anyone can go to store & try the testers & see what I mean.

Please do not be duped by 'before and after' shots. Anyone can make anything possible: photoshopping can alter eye & hair colour as well as add features that were not there.