Why is around my mouth orange?

Hey, im new here and am getting concerned. Around my mouth looks orange, I feel like ive had this for a few years but its never been that noticeable at all but over these past 3 weeks its looking so bad, I was at the doctors about 4 weeks ago and mentioned it to my doctor, he seemed to not care less and just said i dont see anything on your face and sent me on my way, I also got a blood test done and it came back normal except for borderline thyroid which does not need to be treated but I have to go back in two months to get it repeated to see if there are any changes.

Ive been researching online and cant find anything, my palms are not orange/yellow, the whites of my eyes are normal and this is only effecting my face, no where else. I also came across carotenosis, but I wouldnt say i eat large amounts of things like carrots,oranges etc and ive stopped eating these foods for a week to see if there was any change in my face but nope, I am vegetarian and have been for about 5 years but recently started eating meat again to see if any change would happen to my face, its been two weeks and no change.

Now this morning I woke up and im seeing very faint orange/gold like splotches on my cheeks, like 3 or 4 on each side, they are very faint and you have to get close up to notice them, they are not raised or itchy.

I dont use harsh skincare products and have been using rosehip seed oil and natural brightening face masks for like two weeks to see if there was any change but none, I also wear sunscreen everyday, so its definitely not sun damage.

Do you think this has something to do with my thyroid, its really starting to concern me as im seeing no improvement at all and now im seeing these blotches on my cheeks, my doctor is terrible and i know what it will be if I go back to him and the process of finding a new doctor will be a whole thing in its self.

I am a 22yr old female, dont smoke or drink, I am not pregnant and never have been, not on birth control or any medication, never had any health problems, I am prone to hormonal acne.

Here are photos: imgur.com/a/FLpg9E7

[MaisieGray]

It may be melasma:

britishskinfoundation.org.u...

health.harvard.edu/womens-h...

[Hidden in reply to MaisieGray]

yeah i took that into consideration too but I thought it was more brown colour with melasma especially looking at pictures on google images but I wont rule it out, thanks!!

[Anke88]

Orange tinge to skin is often from insufficient conversion of beta carotene to Vitamin A. This happens in the liver. It is one possible sign of hypothyroidism which slows down this conversion.

If your doctor uses outdated TSH and doesn’t test Free T3 you may well be undiagnosed and untreated hypothyroid.

[Hidden in reply to Anke88]

Ok thank you for the help, im going to my doctor again to see if i get any further with this and will mention this to him!

[HLAB35]

Have you had your iron levels checked? If they're weirdly high in range (given that you are veggie) then it could be the bronze coloration from iron overload. This can happen due to an autoimmune issue ( haemachromatosis) which can occur alongside Hashimoto's. Having said that, the vitamin A theory is plausible as well, so worth getting bloods done. If you're prone to hormonal acne that could be down to a zinc and b6 deficiency - very likely to occur on a veggie diet (unless you are super absorber of iron and zinc with haemachromatosis) also fatty vitamin A (as already suggested), D and K2 problems. (Veggie diets are high in copper and low in zinc and are also low in some b vitamins especially if you tend towards veganism.. but can be beneficial to those prone to iron overload).

[Hidden in reply to HLAB35]

No I haven't had my iron levels checked but Im going to get them checked along with whatever else I may need checked and then go from there as something is clearly not right!!! Thanks for the help I'm going to mention to my doctor some of those things as it seems he doesn't have a clue to be honest, my old doctor moved abroad so now im stuck with a not so great one but thanks again for the help!

[HLAB35 in reply to Hidden]

The majority of us with hypothyroidism tend towards low rather than high iron, so it is pretty unlikely, but it is worth knowing where you stand either way as symptoms of hypothyroidism and low iron are similar and most GPs are happy to check this. It would be worthwhile checking vitamin d and b12 as well as the former is low in many that do not supplement in this country and b12 is often low in hypothyroidism.

[HLAB35]

Lycopenemia is another possibility (diet with lots of tomatoes???) and is benign.

[Hidden in reply to HLAB35]

yeah I came across that while researching and i dont actually eat that much tomatoes but maybe it something else im eating a lot of, i really dont know but im going to go to the doctor again and see if ill get any further, thanks for the help!

[lisa_smirnova]

Could you please advise if you managed to find the cause of the discoloration?? Have same for many years, visited like 8 doctors and took dozens of tests and no result( would really appreciate any reply!

[Hidden]

Turns out it was very low b12 levels so I started taking b12 supplements and then eating meat again and it’s got better very slowly. If you are vegan that might be the cause although you said you had many tests done, have you had b12 levels checked, if not I’d do that. Also turns out there was no orange splotches on my cheeks it was something else and I think my anxiety over it made me think the orange was all over my face but was just around the mouth. So yeah if you haven’t got b12 levels checked do that.

[lisa_smirnova]

Thanks! My B12 was at 182 and also ferritin at 17 but it didn't seem to be a concern for any specialist as they consider this orange discoloration to be connected with bilirubin levels which in my case were perfect every time, so there was no other clue. Did you happen to check your bilirubin?

[Hidden in reply to lisa_smirnova]

No I didn’t have that checked but the doctor seemed to think it was to do with the b12 levels because it got better once I started taking b12. I was looking online and it said b12 deficiency can cause high bilirubin and jaundice I’m not sure how accurate that is but a few websites have said it. I’ve also heard something called Gilbert’s syndrome which can cause high bilirubin and jaundice, but you said your levels were fine so I’m really not sure. maybe get checked for Gilbert’s syndrome it’s is a harmless inherited condition, are your eyes slightly yellow as well? I really can’t think of anything else other than it could be just something to do with your skin like discolouration from sun exposure, maybe try using a high quality vitamin c serum on your face to see if it helps lighten up the discolouration.