April 12, 2011

Black market skin bleaching agents with potentially unsafe ingredients are a growing concern in some countries, according to an article published yesterday, April 11, by the Associated Press, "Skin Bleaching a Growing Problem in Jamaican Slums."

The use of these agents stems from societal and cultural beliefs that lighter skin could lead to a better way of life, particularly for those that are impoverished.

In Jamaica, for example, a "23-year-old resident of a Kingston ghetto hopes to transform her dark complexion to a cafe-au-lait-color common among Jamaica's elite and favored by many men in her neighborhood. She believes a fairer skin could be her ticket to a better life. So she spends her meager savings on cheap black-market concoctions that promise to lighten her pigment," (excerpt from AP story).

This phenomenon is not exclusive to Jamaica, but is inherent to many nations around the world. It has been documented in India, the Americas, the Middle East, the Philippines, and in some parts of Africa and Asia.

Lightening agents, such as hydroquinone, have been banned in over the counter preparations in Japan, the European Union, and Australia. OTC hydroquinone is still available in the United States in percentages of up to 2%. While hydroquinone use may lead to adverse events such as ochronosis, it is a rare event typically seen with use of much higher concentrations over longer periods of time. In my opinion, it is not low concentrations of hydroquinone, but other potentially harmful ingredients that may be found in some of the black market products that are of major concern.

"Lightening creams are not effectively regulated in Jamaica, where even roadside vendors sell tubes and plastic bags of powders and ointments from cardboard boxes stacked along sidewalks in market districts," according to the AP story. "Many of the tubes are unlabeled as to their actual ingredients," said Dr. Richard Desnoes, president of the Dermatology Association of Jamaica.

"Hardcore bleachers use illegal ointments smuggled into the Caribbean country that contain toxins like mercury, a metal that blocks production of melanin, which give skin its color, but can also be toxic," the story continued.

In addition, potent topical corticosteroids have been found in some of these products, leading to reports of atrophy, striae, and even symptoms of Cushing’s syndrome.

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