Everything you need to know about skin whitening

Skin whitening is a practice that dates back centuries.

European royalty was known to have used arsenic to bleach their skin all the way back to the 1500s. Queen Elizabeth I herself was a fan of the practice in order to maintain her pearly-white skin. Skin whitening is still commonly used in almost every continent on the planet. In West Africa, up to 70 percent of women possibly use skin whitening cream. Today, skin whitening is a multi-billion-dollar beauty market.

Men and women use skin brightening, lightening or whitening creams, pills, and injections for a variety of reasons, but in this article, we want to go over skin whitening and hyperpigmentation.

Hyperpigmentation is when dark spots form on your skin. Sometimes skin darkens because of age, an injury, or melasma—which is a pigmentation disorder. Hyperpigmentation is a common, usually harmless, and sometimes annoying condition that many of us want to rid of quickly.

While there are many legal skin whitening/lightening creams on the market—major beauty brands such as Nivea, Lancôme and Neutrogena sell these type of products—many skin whitening/lightening creams are harmful, particularly if they have bleaching agents. In fact, some skin whitening products contain banned ingredients such as mercury or steroids and are not available to purchase on the consumer market.

With these such banned skin lighteners, possible harmful side effects include redness, burning, itchiness, scarring, hyperpigmentation and thinning of the skin. Other more serious side effects are organ damage and skin cancer.

If you are currently use whitening cream, it’s important to not use products that contain hydroquinone, mercury, or steroids. Hydroquinone is known to increase risk of skin cancer and liver and kidney damage, while mercury can cause infections, liver damage, depression and psychosis. It’s also important to note that if you expose yourself to the sun AFTER using the cream, you’re increasing your likelihood of causing discoloration and even skin cancer.

If you’re looking for a more guaranteed, less harmful, and less invasive way of getting rid of hyperpigmentation and smoothing your skin tone, Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) is an excellent choice.

IPL uses a high-intensity light to laser the pigment in the second layer of your skin, subsequently killing the discoloration. The process is easy, quick, and pain free. At worse, you will feel a slight sensation of heat on your skin. Our trained, friendly staff will ensure you are comfortable and at ease throughout the entire process.

IPL also has added benefits of generating collagen growth, minimizing pores and wrinkles, and combating the signs of aging. And the best part is: Sometimes it takes as little as one treatment to see lasting results.

For over 20 years, EstheClinic has been providing IPL treatment (and more!) to men and women who are looking for a variety of results for their skin and body. Book a consultation today and we will go over your areas of concern and tailor the best plan for your needs.