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Be wary of skin lightening creams

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A CONGOLESE hair stylist Jackson Marcelle last year claimed that he used special injections to bleach his skin for the past decade.
Each injection would last six months.
The BBC quoted him as saying, “I pray every day and I ask God, ‘God why did you make me black?’
“I don’t like being black.
“I don’t like black skin.”
Marcelle – known in his community as ‘Africa’s Michael Jackson’ said his mother used to apply creams on him when he was young in order to make him appear ‘less black’.
Funny enough, Marcelle seems oblivious of the consequences of Michael Jackson’s inferiority complex and a perpetual quest for perfection.
He started out wanting a different nose, but underwent up to 100 operations and had Botox fillers, bleached skin, cheek implants and lip augmentation which had disastrous effects.He added: “I like white people.
“Black people are seen as dangerous; that’s why I don’t like being black. “People treat me better now because I look like I’m white.”
Marcelle’s sentiments seem to be the ones echoed by millions of Africans and Asians who want to become white.The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that Nigerians are the highest users of such products.
About 77 percent of Nigerian women use the products on a regular basis. They are followed by Togo with 59 percent; South Africa with 35 percent and Mali at 25 percent.
And now Zimbabweans are part of the trend with an estimated one in five young to middle-aged women using some form of skin lightening creams, especially in urban areas.
Latest trends have seen mostly women resorting to everything fake or artificial from hair to nails.
‘Bums and hips’ are also now being sold in some shops in Zimbabwe.
The hips, bums and the nails are temporary and can be removed anytime, but for those who would want to have these permanently, there are medical enhancers that can ‘help’ them.
One feels incomplete without the long, artificial hair, fake nails and Western dressing.
In their quest to become white, women resort to using skin lightening creams which are sold illegally at a dollar to five dollars readily available in the streets.
The elbows, knees and the hands easily expose them because these take time to bleach if one is using the cream and soap, but quickly adapt if one takes an injection and pills.
Some hair salons have even resorted to applying creams containing steroids on the scalps of their clients to stop skin inflammation and to enable hair to grow fast.
Psychologists say there are underlying reasons why people bleach their skin – but low self-esteem and, to some degree self-hate, are the common reasons.
Some of the common skin-lightening creams include, Deproson, Betazole, Carolite, Extra Claire, Movatte and Epiderm among others.And these products are illegal in the country and the police have been arresting people dealing in these products and confiscating them.
Most creams sold in the market are a dangerous cocktail of compounds like steroids, hydroquinone, mercury and tretinoin.
Long term use can lead to lethal health complications like permanent pigmentation, skin cancer, liver damage, mercury poisoning and others.
As a heavy metal, mercury can be toxic to the body and can leave one with kidney, psychiatric, and neurological disorders.
Pregnant women may also pass the mercury to their unborn babies.
According to MedicineNet.com, Hydroquinone found in some of the products may act as a carcinogen or cancer-causing chemical.
Hydroquinone also has been linked with the medical condition known as ‘Ochronosis’ in which the skin becomes dark and thick.
Dome-shaped yellowish spots and grayish-brown spots are also observed in Ochronosis among black women and men in South Africa, Britain, and the USA.
Ochronosis has been observed in conjunction with hydroquinone use even in persons who have used hydroquinone-containing cosmetics for a short time.
Some studies also report abnormal function of the adrenal glands and high levels of mercury in people who have used hydroquinone-containing cosmetics.
For these reasons, hydroquinone has already been banned in Japan, the European Union, and Australia.
And with steroids some experience acne, skin infections, slow wound healing, and skin thinning.
Consumers of skin lightening creams must always read labels so that they are aware of the impending danger after using such chemicals, all for the love of being white.

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