17/05/2026
I am Dr. Rutuja Kulkarni. MD Dermatologist. And for years before I became one, I thought something was deeply wrong with my skin.
Dark circles no sleep fixed. Acne marks that stayed for months. Upper lip pigmentation I hid every day. Bumps under my eyes I could not explain. My self esteem took a hit every single morning. I genuinely believed I was the only one.That I was not taking care of myself properly. That my skin was failing me.My self esteem took a hit every single morning I looked in the mirror.
Then I started studying skin.
And everything changed.
I learned that dark circles on brown skin are almost never about tiredness, they are pigmentation, thin skin and volume loss happening simultaneously.
I learned that post acne hyperpigmentation on brown skin stays for months not weeks because our melanocytes are more reactive, not because we are doing something wrong.
I learned that those small bumps under my eyes were syringomas :benign sweat gland growths more common in South Asian skin, not milia, not acne, not something I caused.
I learned that the lasers and treatments designed for lighter skin tones do not work the same way on ours. The settings are different. The approach is different. The timeline is different. Nobody told me any of this. And I thought I was broken.
That is why I became a dermatologist.
Because I sat where you are sitting right now.
Looking at my face. Wondering why.
Feeling like everyone else had figured out something I had not.
They just had different skin.
This is my face. No filter. No makeup. No edits.
All of it visible. All of it real. All of it mine.
And I am a board certified MD Dermatologist who knows every ingredient, every laser, every treatment.
I still have all of this.
Because this is not imperfection.
This is brown skin.
This is real skin.
And it deserves real understanding
If you ever thought your skin is failing you, it isn’t. You were never given the right info.
That ends here🤎
Save this & Share this with every brown skin woman who thinks she is the only one.
-Dr Rutuja .dermconfetti
