Short answer
Treating dark patches, acne marks or uneven skin with safe products is allowed. Bleaching healthy skin to change your natural colour, especially with harmful creams, is not, and believing lighter skin makes someone better is against Islam. Many Hanafi muftis allow evening out the tone, not changing it.
Treating pigmentation and blemishes is permissible. Products with mercury, strong steroids or other harmful agents are haram to use. Lightening one's natural skin colour for beauty is discouraged, and many muftis count a lasting change of it as changing Allah's creation.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Allah says the variety of our colours is one of His signs, and that the most honoured of us with Him is the most righteous. The Prophet ﷺ said that Allah does not look at your forms or your wealth, but at your hearts and deeds. So a lighter skin is not better, and the pressure many people feel, especially in rishta (marriage) talks, has no place in the deen.
Treatment. Melasma, dark spots, acne scars, sun damage and uneven patches are skin problems, and treating them is allowed, like any treatment. Brightening products that only remove dullness are also fine.
Changing your colour. Bleaching healthy skin to become a different shade is close to the changing of Allah's creation that the hadith warns against, and many muftis discourage or forbid it. Many lightening creams also contain mercury or strong steroids that damage the skin and the body, and the Prophet ﷺ said there is to be no harm. Using such products is not allowed.
- Check ingredients, and buy from regulated sellers.
- Masks and peels that sit on the skin must be removed before wudu; creams that soak in are fine.
- A wife may use safe cosmetics to look good for her husband.
See also is plastic surgery haram and is wearing makeup haram.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Ar-Room 30:22
وَمِنْ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ خَلْقُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱخْتِلَٰفُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَأَلْوَٰنِكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَءَايَٰتٍۢ لِّلْعَٰلِمِينَ ﴿٢٢﴾
And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and your colors. Indeed in that are signs for those of knowledge.
Different skin colours are among Allah's signs, not a defect.
Quran, Surah Al-Hujuraat 49:13
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَٰكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍۢ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَٰكُمْ شُعُوبًۭا وَقَبَآئِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ أَتْقَىٰكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌۭ ﴿١٣﴾
O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.
Worth is by taqwa, not by colour.
Sahih Muslim 2564
Sahih... إن الله لا ينظر إلى صوركم وأموالكم ولكن ينظر إلى قلوبكم وأعمالكم ...
"Allah does not look at your forms or your wealth, but He looks at your hearts and your deeds."
Appearance does not make a person better before Allah.
Sunan Ibn Majah 2340
Graded sahih... لا ضرر ولا ضرار ...
"There is to be no harm and no returning of harm."
The general rule that harming yourself or others is not allowed.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Takmilat Fath al-Mulhim (Mufti Taqi Usmani), Kitab al-Libas wa al-Zinah, on the hadith cursing those who tattoo and pluck. Changing Allah's creation is a lasting change of a normal feature for beauty; removing a defect or temporary adornment is different.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.