By Dr Chukwuka Agbadah
Many African women want to keep their skin toned and beautiful by indulging in skin care products that bleach the skin. The perception that fairness is branded as beauty, grace and high social status has encouraged most women to engage in skin bleaching not bearing in mind that most of these bleaching cosmetic products contain different kinds of harmful chemicals. It is now right to say that the’ Black skin colour is never less’.
Here are some major ingredients in Bleaching products and their health dangers.
¬Hydroquinone: This is a potential carcinogenic ingredient used in skin lightening. It does not actually bleach the skin but rather inhibits production of melanin (a dark-coloured pigment in the skin). Its toxicity can lead to severe side effects such as; kidney and liver malfunction, blood poisoning, nausea (feeling to vomit), abdominal pains, convulsion and even coma.
¬Mercury: This is a toxic metal which has found usefulness in many cosmetic preparations targeted at skin lightening by suppression of melanin production by the skin. Its presence in bleaching preparations can be absorbed through the skin and accumulates in body organs giving rise to severe toxicity. Chronic use can result in neurological and kidney impairment.
¬Arbutin: This is an ingredient extracted naturally from bearberry plant. Although, it can be synthetically produced in the Lab. by action of acetobromoglucose on hydroquinone. It is safer compared with hydroquinone but has the possibility of breaking down to hydroquinone while in the body. This is mainly because it is a glucosylated hydroquinone in nature. This implies that there could be manifestation of hydroquinone-like side effects with use of products containing Arbutin.
¬Kojic acid: This is a fungal metabolic product which is far safer to use than the three above. However, it is important to mention that its known side effect is contact allergy (characterised by increased itchiness, redness, rash and irritation of the skin) which is rare. This is often referred to as contact dermatitis technically.
RECOMMENDATION: Some products contain vitamin C which has the property of skin toning. The good thing is that it has other beneficial properties such as anti-oxidant(anti-aging), anti-inflammatory and wound healing effects. These effects can be enhanced when combined with vitamin E. However, minor side effects should be looked out for. These include yellowish discoloration of the skin, hypopigmented hair and staining of clothes, which occur due to vitamin C oxidative changes. Rarely, stinging, erythema (redness of skin) and dryness are observed after use of topical vitamin C. These can easily be treated using a moisturiser.