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Saturday, June 22, 2019

Health implications of lightening creams


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Kate Halim
Thirty eight-year-old Ndidi Amaechi is an unhappy woman. She recently fell for the tricks of some of these cream sellers who claimed their products contain organic ingredients that naturally lighten the skin. She purchased a jar of this organic cream for N10, 000 and it messed up her skin.

First, she noticed that after using the cream on her body, she would start perceiving an unpleasant smell oozing from her body whenever she sweats. Then her legs started getting too white and full of white patches like eczema.

Health implications of lightening creams

“I have stopped wearing short gowns because my legs are now whiter than other parts of my body she told Saturday Sun. Some people have asked me if I was bleaching and I said no.”
Amaechi said that it wasn’t until later that she learnt that some of these people who claim to sell organic soaps and creams add relaxer to these creams to make them work faster on the skin.
Using skin lightening products to get fairer skin continues to be a widespread phenomenon in Nigeria. In different markets and on different social media platforms, people are selling creams that promise to lighten and whiten the skin in weeks.

These days, these sellers have also added a slogan to their trade. Many of them claim that their creams and soaps are made with organic ingredients that naturally lighten the skin without side effects.

The need to have fairer skin is quite popular in Nigeria because there is a booming market for these whitening and lightening products. Some ladies want to have lighter skins because they feel it attracts men more.

But some of these highly advertised whitening creams contain ingredients that harm the skin. The number of health risks that some of these creams expose users should be a cause of concern to everyone.
These risks can
 be attributed to the individual or combination of ingredients contained in the products. To give you an even clearer picture, here are some of the most common ingredients in skin lightening creams and their side effects.

Hydroquinone

This is a very common ingredient in skin lightening creams. It has been in use as an effective skin lightening agent for more than five decades due to its melanin-inhibiting abilities. Hydroquinone is used in the treatment of skin hyper-pigmentation conditions such as melasma, chloasma, sunspots, acne scars etc.
Even with such a good profile, Hydroquinone is made from Benzene, a carcinogen. Do you know what’s common between processing of black and white film, rubber manufacturing, and hair dyes? Well, all of them utilize hydroquinone for their production.

Side effects of Hydroquinone
Some of the complications of using creams with hydroquinone include genetic alterations, carcinogenicity or ability to cause cancer, thyroid disorders and adrenal dysfunctions.
Others include mild stinging, redness, irritation, and dryness. They can escalate to cracking of the skin, blistering, or severe redness, stinging or irritation. While these can be short-lived, the same cannot be said of the effects of long-term use of hydroquinone.
With prolonged use, hydroquinone is known to cause bluish-black colouration on the skin especially in dark-skinned people. This condition is referred to as exogenous ochronosis. Contact leucoderma or vitiligo, which is complete depigmentation, can also occur when using creams with hydroquinone.

Steroid creams for skin lightening

Steroids, also known as corticosteroids are used to treat certain skin conditions. These include psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema, itching and rashes. They are also used in skin lightening. They are not recommended, since using steroids on a long-term basis and in large doses can have adverse effects on your health.
However, research shows that they are misused for the purpose of skin lightening. This leads to thinning of the skin, stretch marks, easy bruising or tearing of the skin, enlarged blood vessels, increased hair growth in treated areas, steroid dependence, and pustular psoriasis.

Mercury

Mercury is another chemical that is commonly found in numerous skin lightening creams. Back in 2013, the FDA released a notice wherein they requested people to refrain from the use of creams containing mercury.
Mercury leads to mercuric poisoning. The chemical is very easily absorbed into the body. But the problem lies in its removal from the body. If you use creams containing mercury, then you might get skin rashes, discolouration of the skin, which may even lead to scarring.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), using skin-whitening creams containing mercury can lead to liver and nervous system damage. Mercury can also lead to depression and can even interfere with children’s mental growth.
According to a beautician, Uju Ozurumba, “When you go shopping for skin whitening creams, keep an eye out for words such as mercury, mercurous chloride, mercuric or calomel. Unfortunately, not all sellers list their ingredients because they want to sell their products fast.

Health implications of lightening creams

The side effects of skin-lightening creams are dependent on the ingredients. Some of these creams come with either one of these or a combination of several. In light of these, here is a summary of some health conditions that might arise with the use of these creams.

Skin cancer
Compounds used in skin-lightening creams such as hydroquinone, mercury and steroids have carcinogenic properties. This means that they have the potential to cause cancer when used for long.

Liver, kidney or nerve damage

The long-term use of creams containing mercury and its compounds can lead to severe organ damage.

Thinning of the skin

Exploitation of skin whitening creams can lead to severe bruising, exposed capillaries, stretch marks, etc.

Reduction of skin healing properties

Our skin has a regeneration property which means that if you get an injury on your skin, then your skin can heal itself. But long exposure to skin whitening creams can eliminate this property from your skin.
Scarring
This could result from pustules, cracking of the skin, or other skin conditions that may arise with use of the various creams.

Skin irritations

Prolonged use of skin whitening creams can lead to redness, peeling of the skin, rash, dryness, and burning.

Neurological fetal damage

Exposure to mercury when you are pregnant can have serious impact on fetal brain.
Darkening or complete de-pigmentation
This is especially associated with long-term use of creams containing hydroquinone.

Photosensitivity

Skin lightening creams make your skin susceptible to the harmful UV rays.

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