by Two months after the first to the hospital, a 65-year-old woman was dead and her doctors accused the cosmetic creams, which she used on the face and body for decades.
The anonymous patient from Togo is one of recent cases reported in medical magazines of cancer cancer in black African women who are connected to skin -light creams and lotions, and prompted dermatologists to demand better regulation.
The melanin, found in darker skin, typically offers certain protection against the sun damage that can cause cancer.
“Patients with black skin have a natural SPF of around 15, only through pigmented skin,” says Prof. Ncoza Dlova, head of dermatology at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. “If you remove this melanin [with skin lightening creams]They actually remove natural protection. “
The estimates of the skin lighting product in African countries are between 25% and 80% of women. Lighter skin is often considered more desirable, in a trend with complex drivers, including the values imported in the colonial period.
Dlova and colleagues write down a paper that quotes more than 55 cancer cases from countries such as Mali and Senegal.
“If we get induced skin cancer ourselves, that’s a red flag and worrying,” says Dlova. “We have to do something about it.”
The market for skin lighting product is growing. Analysts predict that the current market size of USD 10.7 billion (8 billion GBP) will reach $ 18.1 billion by 2033. There are even reports on the products used for babies and small children.
For Dlova, they are “a health risk that needs to be addressed”. Almost every day, she says, her clinic in Durban will see someone with a skin problem connected to lightning products. “Of course not everyone comes with skin cancer. They come with fungal infections that are resistant to the usual treatment that we usually use. They have pimples, which are called steroid-induced acne, as well as rosacea. Some are available with permanent stretch marks; all of these complications are extremely common.”
The Togo patient had three large, painful, cancer -like tumors on the neck, which she had tried with antibiotics, antiseptic and traditional herbal envelopes in front of the hospital. One of the tumors was removed, but the others were too close to blood vessels and it could not afford the recommended chemotherapy.
She told her doctors that she had used creams with topical hydrochinone and highly potent corticosteroids for about 30 years.
In another series of eight types of cancer, which were reported in Senegal, women had used similar products for about 20 years. Two of these patients died.
Hydrochinon as a skin brighter has been banned in South Africa since 1990, and other African countries, including Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Kenya and Ghana, followed this example. These prohibitions have been referred to by serious concerns about an irreversible form of skin damage, which was referred to as ochronosis.
However, regulation is often weak, and the products are reportedly still available from street sellers and cosmetic transactions.
The use of steroids in skin brightness is a newer phenomenon. In dermatology, topical steroids are used to treat inflammatory skin diseases such as eczema. A side effect is, however, that you make skin easier, a fact that is exploited for your use in cosmetics.
If the two problematic ingredients are used together, they can have a “synergistic effect”, says Dlova.
The International League of Dermatological Societies (ILDS) has published a warning warning against the dangers of abuse of strong topical steroids and asks the governments to better regulate products. The problem goes beyond Africa, says ILDS President Prof. Henry Lim, whereby the problem is first raised by its members in India.
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After the hydrochinone ban in South Africa, there was a doldrum in how often dermatologists occurred on complications of the bleaching of the skin. “But in the past 10 years there has been only a sudden outbreak of complications of the bleach. [ochronosis] For skin cancer, these are really red flags that imply that we have to do something about it. “
While the desire for easier skin is not new, Dlova suspects the rise of social media in the past ten years to use increased use and points to smartphone filters that make the skin look more smooth and lighter.
Combating the problem requires measures from many sectors – not just the supervisory authorities.
“Marketing, social media and media all have a role to play – fashion, celebrities and all of this. If you use black models that are brighter in the skin color, the message that you convey are prettier that you can be a model. You are more attractive if you are easier.
She also wants to see skin health education in presules to teach children, be proud of their natural skin and to convey the message of using sunscreens.
Some black patients will have skin problems, including pigmentation disorders, she says, which may require creams with light ingredients. However, these should be used under medical supervision.
Part of the ILDS interest representation will be to ask for pharmaceutical companies to make these prescription products more affordable so that people do not have to turn to cheaper products that can be dangerous.
