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Medical Video: dangerous ingredients in skin lightening cream top 5 ingredients to avoid found in skincare products
While Westerners are obsessed with golden brown skin, we in Indonesia are often less aware of how natural our skin is adored, and even obsessed with having white skin.
The phenomenon of skin whitening in Indonesia is a small part of a large industry of billions of rupiah that urges women to respond to the temptation to have white skin. In Indonesia, white skin is heralded as a driver of success, indicators of social status, power, wealth, and the most decisive: beauty. The message that was carried was quite clear. Dark brown nuances have a lower position, and are somehow seen as ugly, dirty, even unhealthy.
In the midst of people who consider having radiant white skin a symbol of beauty, more and more women are now turning to skin whitening products to achieve and maintain the hue of the skin they had dreamed of. Skin whitening creams are reported to always be the prima donna in the Indonesian skin care market, with sales figures continuing to soar.
But, many people are not aware of the dangers that lurk them when applying dough chemicals to their faces.
What harmful chemicals are there in whitening creams?
It is difficult to ascertain what skin whitening products contain because producers often do not fully disclose the list of raw materials involved. Some ingredients (petroleum jelly, vitamin E, and fruit extract acids, for example) prove to be harmless. These products may also contain active ingredients that can reduce the concentration of melanin, the skin-giving cell.
But at the same time, some whitening cream products contain toxic chemicals that can cause serious side effects - mercury and hydroquinone.
Effect of mercury in whitening creams
Although mercury is known as an active ingredient that can brighten skin tone and reduce black spots, this dangerous metal contains a number of worrying side effects.
Excessive use of mercury-containing lightening creams has been linked to brain damage, kidney problems, and kidney failure. Other reports show that contact with mercury can cause a decrease in cognitive function, headaches, fatigue, hand tremors, depression, nausea, excessive saliva production, inflammation of the tongue and gums, and a number of other symptoms. Other possible side effects from the use of skin whitening products contain mercury including refractory pigmentation and fetal disability when used during pregnancy.
Hydroquinone
High levels of hydroquinone in skin whitening products can exfoliate the upper layers of the skin and protect the skin naturally from infection and solar radiation, also resulting in a darker, more permanent striped skin appearance. In addition, hydroquinone damages the elastic veins in the skin which will actually encourage the process of premature aging and weakening the overall structure of the skin.
Hydroquinone has been proven effective and safe to lighten blemishes and dark spots, stretch marks, to changes in skin color due to aging if carried out under strict dosage supervision by a doctor. However, these metals should not be used as dark skin bleaching agents.
Excessive exposure to hydroquinone can cause neuropathy, a nervous system disease. Furthermore, experts believe that hydroquinone can increase the risk of skin cancer, liver and kidney damage when absorbed in the bloodstream, cataracts, skin discoloration, and dermatitis, if left exposed to skin.
How to recognize dangerous skin whitening creams
Creams must be used continuously to be able to maintain the whitening effect, otherwise the skin will re-produce genuine skin pigments. Sometimes, the skin can even become addicted to the cream - in the form of a rash when "craving" - so it will be difficult to stop using it.
What makes poisoning these chemicals so scary? Many of the symptoms are not specific and are quite difficult to know. Symptoms can include irritability, depression, difficulty concentrating, insomnia, numbness, tingling to tremor.
Usually, when a cream user starts experiencing symptoms such as trembling hands and headaches, the doctor will recommend that they undergo a urine test. Analysis of urine can identify high mercury concentrations that are present in the body. For cases like this, patients can further request testing of facial whitening products for mercury content.
However, often these products cannot be identified because they are packed in unmarked containers. In Indonesia, these creams are not sold freely at beauty counters in shopping centers, but they are fairly cheap and easily accessible online.
Even though the US Food and Drug Association (FDA) and the European Union have set strict regulations on the use of mercury and hydroquinone in skin care products, and require manufacturers to transparently disclose every supporting composition in cosmetics and medicines, awareness and extra policies are needed when buy imported skin care products. Mercury has been found in several imported skin whitening creams, including those from Latin America, India and China.
Ingredients to be avoided in skin whitening creams
Always carefully list the composition of your skin whitening products and avoid the following names: mercurous chloride, calomel, mercuric, and mercurio for other names of mercury; 1,4-Benzenediol, p-Benzenediol, p-Dihydroxybenzene, p-Dioxybenzene, p-Hydroquinone, p-Hydroxyphenol, Arctuvin, Benzohydroquinone, Bezoquinol, 1,4-dihydroxybenzol, Tequinol, Aida, and Benzene for other names hydroquinone.
Skin whitening creams that contain high levels of hydroquinone can turn into a strange brown color when exposed to outside air or sunlight for a long time and are sustainable. Meanwhile, skin whitening creams that contain mercury can change to dark or green gray when exposed to direct sunlight.
There are many safer alternatives if you want skin care that can specifically brighten black spots, stretch marks, or uneven skin tones. You can also ask for a prescription for the right skin care regimen for your problem from a dermatologist.
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