Posts Tagged ‘risks of skin lightening’

Skin Bleaching Cream – Why the “Magic Pill” is not Replacing a Good Bleaching Cream.

December 17th, 2009

A search for a good skin bleaching cream will turn up ads for a so-called ‘magic pill’. Glutathione. Unproven claims zip around the internet. It is supposed to whiten your skin ‘from the inside’.

Glutathione is a man-made drug. It treats nerve diseases such as Parkinson’s. Many patients regain movement and the ability to speak.  –Source: Medi Pharm Distributor

Still Waiting To Learn How it Whitens Skin? You’re not Alone.

On the website medhelp, a prestigious dermatologist was asked for medical evidence glutathione works as a skin whitner.  He said, “I’m afraid I haven’t got any. I am not aware of the use of this product for skin whitening. In fact, I’m not aware of any internal skin whiteners. There are creams for this purpose.” –Dr. Allen Rockoff, Rockoff Dermatology Center, MA
Creams work on melanin.

Melanin– closest to the surface– gives skin color.  No one can explain how attempting to impact melanin from the inside is superior, since the melanin is near the surface.

  • The FDA classified glutathione as GRAS: Generally Regarded As Safe. (But not specifically for skin whitening).
  • Glutathione is already in your cells. Putting more in your body gets risky. Why? Because they’ve never studied how much is safe and how much causes harm.
You could use glutathione in skin bleaching creams, if you’re willing to be a lab rat.
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Skin Bleaching Cream – Finding One That Won’t Make You Suffer

December 17th, 2009

Your choice of a skin bleaching cream boils down to whether it works with nature, or against it. And whether you can feel it working.

  1. Natural acids work with nature.
  2. Chemicals work against it.

Chemicals are put on skin to make it peel. Once it starts to dry and flake, the skin is scraped off. This is called ‘exfoliation’. Few people use peels to lighten overall skin tone. You just can’t peel your whole body.

It’s overkill.

But moles, dark circles, acne discoloration, freckles, sun spots and tattoos have all been attacked with chemical peels. Pigment runs very deep. A chemical peel has to burn off layer after layer to ‘get to the bottom of it’. It takes a lot of surrounding skin with it.

The naturals work differently.

The most effective natural ingredients in skin bleaching creams are acids. This may sound harsh but it’s very mild. The list includes:

  • Kojic acid.
  • Alpha arbutin.
  • Vitamin C.
  • Azaleic acid.

You cannot feel them work. They team up with nature. The gentle acids work on melanin production. When melanin is inhibited, skin lightens. As skin naturally replaces itself there’s less and less melanin in the new skin cells. 

How do we know it’s safe? Alpha arbutin has been scientifically investigated. The result? Medical officials now call it “an alternative medicine” for skin bleaching. Also,

  • Kojic acid has been taken for centuries in Asia. They thought it was a vitamin. Then they noticed their skin was getting lighter.
  • You eat ascorbic acid in oranges. You drink azaleic acid in citrus juices. Kojic acid comes from rice or plants. Alpha arbutin comes from a berry bush. Bears love to eat it. Human herbalists love the juice, too.

These natural skin bleaching ingredients work. And you don’t feel them working.

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Moles – How to Get Rid of Skin Moles Using a Skin Bleaching Cream

December 10th, 2009

Skin moles baffle scientists. A skin bleaching cream will fade a mole.

Why moles develop is a medical mystery. How skin moles develop is not mysterious.

  • Melanin rises to the surface skin to form a mole.
  • Melanin is a natural skin pigment which gives color to skin.
  • Normally melanin distributes evenly, producing the common sun tan.
  • When it clumps near the skin surface, you get a mole.

Modern skin bleaching cream inhibits melanin production.  Good creams include all-natural substances such as kojic acid and arbutin.

  1. These additives inhibit melanin production and gradually fade dark moles.
  2. Skin lighteners are considered specific, because they go to the source of moles.
  3. They can be applied with a finger tip or a Q-tip.
  4. They require repeated use over time.

Excessive melanin, drawn to the skin surface, explains everything from skin moles to birth marks. These are examples of what’s called hyperpigmentation. Medical researchers studied what they called “depigmenting agents”. These substances encourage melanin to disintegrate. Researchers examined over-the-counter skin bleaching creams which act as depigmenting agents.

The research proved skin bleaching creams utilizing kojic acid and arbutin worked.

Find a skin bleaching cream for skin moles.

Learn more about treating a mole.

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Hydroquinone Cream – The Dangers of Using a Skin Bleaching Cream Containing Hydroquinone

December 10th, 2009

It is not news that Great Britain banned hydroquinone. What’s making news in England is how seriously English health officials take the risk of hydroquinone in skin bleaching cream. Hydroquinone  causes a raft of serious side affects. Then English health authorities learned it was shown to cause cancer in skin bleaching products, and cracked down. But hydroquinone is still sold in the US, over-the-counter.

And you will find it in stuff made overseas and imported.

The English Consider Hydroquinone a Serious Risk. London Police Officers, wearing body armor, raided a cosmetics firm. The raid turned up smuggled bars of skin bleaching soap. Hydroquinone was listed right on the box. The danger is using hydroquinone repeatedly over large areas of the body. When the skin breaks, the chemical penetrates into the bloodstream to reach the liver and kidneys.  There it can cause more damage.  Bathing with it would be astonishingly dangerous.     Source:  CNN.com

As long as we are ruling out dangerous stuff in skin bleaching creams, a  note about Glutathione.
It’s an antioxidant that has surfaced as a skin lightener. A report in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science cautioned that there is no standard for how much glutathione should be allowed in skin bleaching creams.

 Translation: they don’t know how much is too much.

 How to Find Safe Skin Bleaching Products

More on Dangerous Hydroquinone

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Skin Bleaching Cream – Look for Natural Products, Reject a Dangerous Chemical Ingredient Called Hydroquinone

December 2nd, 2009

Natural Ingredients to Look For in a Skin Bleaching Cream 

  1. Kojic acid-a melanin inhibitor which is natural substance
  2. Alpha Arbutin, a natural skin lightening agent found in plants
  3. Ascorbic Acid, or Vitamin C
  4. Azelaic acid
  5. Derivatives of Vitamin A, also known as retinoids
  6. Niacinamide, a form of Vitamin B-3 

The evidence against hydroquinone continues to mount, especially regarding the use of hydroquinone skin bleaching products on darker skin. 

A study in the East African Medical Journal cited the case of a 30-year old woman who ran a cosmetics shop. She had been using two hydroquinone-based skin bleaching creams for four years. By the time she saw a doctor, she suffered chronic tiredness and a lack of feeling in her legs. The diagnosis was neuropathy, a degeneration of the nervous system.

As she was otherwise healthy, the doctors advised the woman to stop using the skin bleaching cream.  Within four months the symptoms disappeared and she walked again without difficulty.

  •  Hydroquinone has been banned in the EU and Japan.
  • It is still available over-the-counter and in prescription form in the US, but should be avoided.

Click here  to find safe products and skin bleaching cream comparisons.

Click here for skin lightening suggestions.

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Skin Lightening – Safety Precautions When Choosing Skin Lighteners

December 2nd, 2009

When choosing a skin lightening cream, be aware of safety precautions about some common chemicals. To be perfectly safe, look for all-natural ingredients, such as kojic acid, alpha arbutin, and Vitamin C.

The first generation of skin bleaching products used chemicals. Many of the products still on-the-market rely on harsh ingredients, even after safety concerns came to light.

  • Mercury. It works, but health risks of repeated exposure to mercury surfaced. Skin lighteners are used repeatedly. Some skin lightening creams made overseas still use mercury.
  • Steroids. Products containing steroids fell from favor when the dangerous side effects of steroids were proven.
  • One common ingredient, hydroquinone causes a raft of serious side affects. It was then linked to cancer. You will still find hydroquinone in some skin bleaching products, including prescription-strength skin bleaching creams. Hydroquinone is unsafe unless a doctor is in control of it.

 Non-chemical skin bleaching creams are the next generation, utilizing natural ingredients.

  • Natural acid shakes up the pigmented cells that darken skin. Skin lightens over time.
  • Scientists find kojic acid is a trustworthy skin lightener.
  • Alpha Arbutin, a natural plant extract, is proven to interrupt melanin production. Melanin gives skin dark color.

The safety precautions are clear.  So are the safe choices in skin lightening creams.

To compare skin creams and ingredients, click here.

The latest on skin lightening is here.

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Skin Bleaching – Moving Beyond Home Remedies and Side Effects to Effective Skin Lightening

November 18th, 2009

Scientists now know a great deal more about what skin bleaching ingredients work, which cause side effects, and how a new generation of skin lightening agents can be effective. 

The initial wave of skin bleaching products contained chemicals later found to cause problems.

  1. Mercury worked, but health risks of repeated exposure to mercury came to light.
  2. Products containing steroids fell from favor.
  3. One common ingredient, hydroquinone caused a raft of allergic side affects then was linked to cancer.  

The goal of any skin bleaching product is to promote degradation of melanin, the molecules of pigment that darken skin. 

Faced with the risks of chemicals, home remedies for natural skin lightening popped up.

  • Lemon skin bleaching used citric acid from lemons to lighten skin over time.
  • Ground almond packs applied to dark skin were thought to raise melanin to the surface to be sloughed as skin naturally regenerates. 

Now, science weighs in.

  • Scientists discovered a modern natural ingredient, kojic acid, is a trustworthy skin lightener.
  • Medicine also documented arbutin as a skin bleaching agent.
  • Both encourage pigment production control.

A Review of the Next-Generation Skin Lighteners

Ingedients to Avoid in skin bleaching creams

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