FROM YEYEOLADE.WORDPRESS.COM
From monitor.co.ug
How skin lightening takes its toll on your health
EDGAR R. BATTE
Walking around town will reveal just how low some women think of their natural black skin complexion. They strive to achieve a lighter skin complexion because they think that the lighter their skin complexions are, the better and probably more appealing they will look.
As such, skin bleaching continues to manifest itself in many black communities where even the supposedly lighter-looking women will go an extra mile to make themselves lighter.
Several women in Uganda use soaps and creams containing mercury to obtain a lighter complexion. NET PHOTO
Skin whitening, as answers.com offers, is a term covering a variety of cosmetic methods used to whiten the skin, in parts of East Asia, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa.
The site adds that skin lightening or whitening is a controversial topic as it is closely intertwined with the detrimental effects on health, identity, self image and racial supremacy.
According to Dr Pius Okong, a health consultant with St Francis Hospital Nsambya, this remains a big problem he attributes to inferiority complex where women are not satisfied with the colour of their skins and therefore go out to try and achieve a light complexion which comes with a price to pay. In most cases, the products have found their way to shops unchecked yet the effects of the chemicals used in making (such) products like soaps and creams, as Dr. Vincent Karuhanga explains, have been found to have adverse effects on unborn children, women and men.
“Many of these bleaching agents contain steroids, hydroquinone and mercury which can affect the body as drugs do, given the fact that they interfere with the production of melanin- group of naturally occurring dark pigments, especially the pigment found in skin,” Dr Karuhanga elaborates.
In communities, the problem has not gone unattended to and last year, The International Anti-Corruption Theatre Movement (IATM), a pressure group against bleaching, indicated that thousands of women in Uganda use soaps containing mercury to obtain a lighter complexion without knowing the health hazards of using such soaps.
Mercury according to findings through Nordic Chemicals Group, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland and Ms Uganda, causes a number of health problems such as skin cancer and nervous disorder.
Steroids, on the other hand, could cause diabetes given that they increase the amount of sugar metabolism in the body thus worsening the infection, Dr Karuhanga adds. He points out creams like Pimplex usually used to treat pimples, contain mercury which is reportedly poisonous.
According to mercuryexposure.org, mercury-based bleaching creams contain ammoniated mercury or mercrous chloride as a bleaching agent. Some of these creams may contain up to more than 2-5 per cent mercury that will be harmful to health, therefore resulting in mercury poisoning, especially chronic mercury poisoning.
“In the Minimata epidemic in Japan, there were 42 brain-damaged children in 400 live births. Only one of the mothers had no sign of having mercury poisoning.
Majority of the mothers had used mercury-based bleaching creams during their childbearing years,” mercuryexposure.org explains.
“The biggest problem is that by the time someone realises signs of the effects, the damage is already done.
The inferiority complex has also caught up with men and they have started bleaching their skins too,” Dr Karuhanga further explains, adding that the worst side effect victims could suffer would be worsened infections.
Mercury, he adds, can affect the kidney and nervous system while hydroquinone can damage the body nerves as well as the blood cells. Steroids have a pushing syndrome and can thus precipitate high blood pressure, diabetes and could cause acne.
However, that is not to say all bleaching agents have bad side effects. And as Dr Karuhanga and David Ssali, a dermatologist at Dama Medical Clinic agree, some herbal creams and soaps have been found to be good, given the fact that most are natural.
According to Ssali, for most people, the intention is not to bleach. They are looking for a good skin but with the continuous trials with different products, end up bleaching their skins unknowingly.
“People should be made aware of alternatives to achieving this (good skin). They could eat fruits like carrots, simsim and a variety of coloured fruits and vegetables,” Ssali who did not rule out skin cancer for continued use of skin products, adds.
“By using some of these products, you remove the natural pigment which makes the skin vulnerable to ultraviolet rays, opening the skin pores further which puts you at many health risks,” he warns.
According to the AAR Health services Kenya website, dermatologists caution that the treatment of skin conditions must be done strictly with the advice of the gynaecologists or dermatologists. In pregnant women, the unborn child is susceptible to medications, even those applied to the skin and great care must be taken.
In neighbouring Kenya, there has been a ban on bleaching creams with stringent laws and public campaigns have been launched to address the harmful effects of these products on the skin.
Much as effort has been taken to ban the importation of skin lightening creams, they are still in plenty and sold across the counter in most shops and on the roadside in Uganda.
Ideally, skin whitening could be advised to treat pigmentation (coloration of tissues by pigment) disorders like spotted skin tone, age spots, freckles- small, usually yellow or brown spots on the skin, often seen on the face and pregnancy marks.
BLEACHING IN UGANDA!-”HOW SKIN LIGHTENING TAKES ITS TOLL ON YOUR HEALTH”,AND CAN EVEN EFFECT THE BIRTH OF NORMAL CHILDREN IN FUTURE!-FROM UGANDA’S THE MONITOR.CO.UG
 |
| MJ HAD SKIN CANCER AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH SO THAT WOULD HAVE KILLED HIM! HE GOT IT FROM BLEACHING! |
BLEACH AND GET SKIN CANCER ON THE LONG RUN! YOU WON'T SEE YOUR CHILDREN GROW UP AND IT CAN EVEN AFFECT YOUR CHILDREN AT BIRTH!
BLEACH AND LOOK LIKE A MONSTER! BLEACH AND DIE OF SKIN CANCER!
BLEACH AND LOOK LIKE A MONSTER!
EDGAR R. BATTE
Walking around town will reveal just how low some women think of their natural black skin complexion. They strive to achieve a lighter skin complexion because they think that the lighter their skin complexions are, the better and probably more appealing they will look.
As such, skin bleaching continues to manifest itself in many black communities where even the supposedly lighter-looking women will go an extra mile to make themselves lighter.
Several women in Uganda use soaps and creams containing mercury to obtain a lighter complexion. NET PHOTO
Skin whitening, as answers.com offers, is a term covering a variety of cosmetic methods used to whiten the skin, in parts of East Asia, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa.
The site adds that skin lightening or whitening is a controversial topic as it is closely intertwined with the detrimental effects on health, identity, self image and racial supremacy.
According to Dr Pius Okong, a health consultant with St Francis Hospital Nsambya, this remains a big problem he attributes to inferiority complex where women are not satisfied with the colour of their skins and therefore go out to try and achieve a light complexion which comes with a price to pay. In most cases, the products have found their way to shops unchecked yet the effects of the chemicals used in making (such) products like soaps and creams, as Dr. Vincent Karuhanga explains, have been found to have adverse effects on unborn children, women and men.
“Many of these bleaching agents contain steroids, hydroquinone and mercury which can affect the body as drugs do, given the fact that they interfere with the production of melanin- group of naturally occurring dark pigments, especially the pigment found in skin,” Dr Karuhanga elaborates.
In communities, the problem has not gone unattended to and last year, The International Anti-Corruption Theatre Movement (IATM), a pressure group against bleaching, indicated that thousands of women in Uganda use soaps containing mercury to obtain a lighter complexion without knowing the health hazards of using such soaps.
Mercury according to findings through Nordic Chemicals Group, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland and Ms Uganda, causes a number of health problems such as skin cancer and nervous disorder.
Steroids, on the other hand, could cause diabetes given that they increase the amount of sugar metabolism in the body thus worsening the infection, Dr Karuhanga adds. He points out creams like Pimplex usually used to treat pimples, contain mercury which is reportedly poisonous.
According to mercuryexposure.org, mercury-based bleaching creams contain ammoniated mercury or mercrous chloride as a bleaching agent. Some of these creams may contain up to more than 2-5 per cent mercury that will be harmful to health, therefore resulting in mercury poisoning, especially chronic mercury poisoning.
“In the Minimata epidemic in Japan, there were 42 brain-damaged children in 400 live births. Only one of the mothers had no sign of having mercury poisoning.
Majority of the mothers had used mercury-based bleaching creams during their childbearing years,” mercuryexposure.org explains.
“The biggest problem is that by the time someone realises signs of the effects, the damage is already done.
The inferiority complex has also caught up with men and they have started bleaching their skins too,” Dr Karuhanga further explains, adding that the worst side effect victims could suffer would be worsened infections.
Mercury, he adds, can affect the kidney and nervous system while hydroquinone can damage the body nerves as well as the blood cells. Steroids have a pushing syndrome and can thus precipitate high blood pressure, diabetes and could cause acne.
However, that is not to say all bleaching agents have bad side effects. And as Dr Karuhanga and David Ssali, a dermatologist at Dama Medical Clinic agree, some herbal creams and soaps have been found to be good, given the fact that most are natural.
According to Ssali, for most people, the intention is not to bleach. They are looking for a good skin but with the continuous trials with different products, end up bleaching their skins unknowingly.
“People should be made aware of alternatives to achieving this (good skin). They could eat fruits like carrots, simsim and a variety of coloured fruits and vegetables,” Ssali who did not rule out skin cancer for continued use of skin products, adds.
“By using some of these products, you remove the natural pigment which makes the skin vulnerable to ultraviolet rays, opening the skin pores further which puts you at many health risks,” he warns.
According to the AAR Health services Kenya website, dermatologists caution that the treatment of skin conditions must be done strictly with the advice of the gynaecologists or dermatologists. In pregnant women, the unborn child is susceptible to medications, even those applied to the skin and great care must be taken.
In neighbouring Kenya, there has been a ban on bleaching creams with stringent laws and public campaigns have been launched to address the harmful effects of these products on the skin.
Much as effort has been taken to ban the importation of skin lightening creams, they are still in plenty and sold across the counter in most shops and on the roadside in Uganda.
Ideally, skin whitening could be advised to treat pigmentation (coloration of tissues by pigment) disorders like spotted skin tone, age spots, freckles- small, usually yellow or brown spots on the skin, often seen on the face and pregnancy marks.
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June 14, 2009 at 10:39 am | edit YAA Adding this to my bookmarks. Thank You
July 30, 2009 at 5:36 am | edit two thumbs up ! :)
August 22, 2009 at 9:00 am | edit MICHAEL JACKSON BLEACHED AND DEVELOPED SKIN DISEASE ,VITILAGO AND BEFORE HE DIED HAD DEVELOPED SKIN CANCER AND SKIN CANCER IS WHAT BLEACHING LEADS TO EVENTUALLY-THAT IS THE BLACK TRUTH! TAKE THE TRUTH OR LEAVE IT! HERE AT BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL! WE TEACH THE LOVE OF BLACKNESS! WE CAN NEVER DEFEND BLACK SELF HATRED IN ANY FORM! CORRECT YOURSELF IF YOU HATE YOUR BLACK SELF- GO TO GOD AND LET GOD SHOW YOU THAT HE HAS CREATED YOU THE BEAUTIFUL CREATION THAT YOU ARE! DON’T COVERT ANOTHER MAN’S SKIN COLOR-LOVE THE SKIN YOU ARE IN! LESSONS FOR BLACK PEOPLE WE WILL CONTINUE TO PREACH! WAKE UP SKIN BLEACHERS-BLEACH AND DIE!
May 22, 2012 at 10:09 am | edit Hello,
The best of the season, and please do not be surprise to see tais message ok
My name is Steve Morgan and I am a single man.
One is not bound to have all the joys in live as you may have
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bear in life.
You may be financially and physically alright but may be lacking on
the emotional side, finding your address among all the addresses in
today, it gave me the green light to say I have gotten some one to
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fearing one and why don’t we give ourselves a trial on pen pal
relationship.
Finally i pray that our good God should guide and protect you as you
reply me this mail as I will be very happy to give you my picture and
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My greetings to every member of your family.
Have a nice day.
Yours friend.
Steve.
stevemoor.40@gmail.com
November 24, 2009 at 9:25 pm | edit Hiya – I stumbled on your oage by mistake. I was searching in Yahoo for Antivirus software that I had already bought when I found your site, I have to say your website is really informative, I just love the theme, its amazing!. I don’t have the time at the moment to fully read your entire site but I bookmarked it and also will sign up for your RSS feed. I will be back in a day or two. Thanks again for a nice site.
December 4, 2009 at 5:14 am | edit I have really bad pregnancy marks, I hate the way my body looks! I am scared to date again! I just want to make them darker like my brown skin! any Ideas???
December 4, 2009 at 3:19 pm | edit Sam get in touch with my expert cousin and she will tell you how to do it without bleaching1
“This article is god sent. I dont know if you know that I am working as a licensed esthethician in Washington , DC and I have so many
African clients that have permenately damaged their skin with bleach.
A little sun screen every day will take care of uneven skin tones and prevent cancer causing cells from starting. Our Mothers used to say stay out of the sun. This advice is so timely as the sun is our worst enemy for different reasons now. The mantra should be use sun screen not bleach.
Peace and love
Jennifer I. Latifa Johnson
umosman@yahoo..com
Jenniferlatifajohnson@gmail.com
1927 Otis Street N.E.Washington, DC 20018
202 635-7842
December 5, 2009 at 3:31 am | edit Yeye thank you so much for replying! I just want to change the way I look! I got pregnant when I was in my teens now I am 20. I just want to be who i am to love my body but I just get depressed abut it! I seen lot of the stretch mark creams but not sure if they really work and some cost way too much! I love to hear more from you cousin!
June 23, 2011 at 12:56 pm | edit Thanks for this, i will air out my voice too—i wonder, why is it so common a disease especially among the blacks? the act is very rudimentary by the way. In Uganda, it’s horrible how the ladies do it, i mean the process. And besides, why are lotion companies encouraging it and nobody seems to care yet the after effects are clear. By the way, I happen to have been part of the campaign against the bleaching act, side by side with IATM. I did the documentation. It’s a horrible a thing most women in Africa and Uganda particularly do but even the men.
It’s unfortunate the Late Michael Jackson, a man of that caliber had no advisers on such issues. Black is the best
November 8, 2011 at 2:41 am | edit the best skin care|acne treatment|acne skin care…
[...]BLEACHING IN UGANDA!-”HOW SKIN LIGHTENING TAKES ITS TOLL ON YOUR HEALTH”,AND CAN EVEN EFFECT THE BIRTH OF NORMAL CHILDREN IN FUTURE!-FROM UGANDA’S THE MONITOR.CO.UG « BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL![...]…
December 27, 2011 at 9:26 pm | edit all for yout health…
[...]BLEACHING IN UGANDA!-”HOW SKIN LIGHTENING TAKES ITS TOLL ON YOUR HEALTH”,AND CAN EVEN EFFECT THE BIRTH OF NORMAL CHILDREN IN FUTURE!-FROM UGANDA’S THE MONITOR.CO.UG « BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL![...]…
March 8, 2012 at 11:45 am | edit Sarah, Geringswalde…
[...]BLEACHING IN UGANDA!-”HOW SKIN LIGHTENING TAKES ITS TOLL ON YOUR HEALTH”,AND CAN EVEN EFFECT THE BIRTH OF NORMAL CHILDREN IN FUTURE!-FROM UGANDA’S THE MONITOR.CO.UG « BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL![...]…
March 10, 2012 at 12:03 pm | edit dating tips…
[...]BLEACHING IN UGANDA!-”HOW SKIN LIGHTENING TAKES ITS TOLL ON YOUR HEALTH”,AND CAN EVEN EFFECT THE BIRTH OF NORMAL CHILDREN IN FUTURE!-FROM UGANDA’S THE MONITOR.CO.UG « BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL![...]…
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June 2, 2012 at 10:35 am | edit Im having a little issue. I cant get my reader to pick up your rss feed, Im using bing reader by the way