Midnite Rain asks…I have dark skin, and i would love to have a much more fairer complexion. I have read that Uva Ursi (Bearberry Extract) is good for lightening African American skin, and I’ve also heard that L-Glutathione is great too. So, if i want to max my skin lightening, is it safe and more efficient to use both at the same time?

The Right Brain responds:

Midnite’s question prompted a good discussion in our Forum about the various options for lightening/whitening your skin. (There was even a bit of a philosophical argument about whether you SHOULD lighten your skin or not!) Click through to our Forum to read about ingredients that have been shown to effectively lighten dark spots.

You should also understand what ingredients you should NOT use to lighten skin. Mercury is one good example. Mercury compounds like mercurious chloride, mercury oxide and ammoniated mercury can penetrate the skin and deactivate the enzyme involved in melanin production. These chemicals essentially turn off the switch that causes dark spots to appear. Unfortunately, long term use of these products can cause neurological and kidney damage so have banned from cosmetic use. This is a very timely discussion since it was recently discovered that many commercially available brands of skin lighteners still contain illegal levels of mercury. You can read the entire story in the Chicago Tribute.

Right Brain reports…

Kojic acid based skin lightening products, like Meladerm, have provided benefits to many people and it’s effectiveness is supported by the American Academy of Dermatology. In Europe, it is thought to be a safer alternative to hydroquinone (an ingredient banned in Europe).

Kojic acid is also a natural by-product from the fermentation stage of sake production. Scientists believe it helps lighten the skin by blocking an enzyme crucial in the production of skin melanin. Anecdotal reports by Meladerm customers would support this view.

Overall, it seems like a great ingredient.

Or maybe not.

According to a report from the European scientific body, the Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP), kojic acid used at the maximum 1% concentration level may pose a health risk.

Kojic Acid Good news

On the plus side, the SCCP found that kojic acid is not genotoxic or carcinogenic. (It won’t cause cancer). It also did not exhibit any reproductive toxicity.

Kojic Acid Bad news

On the other hand, with patch tests on real human volunteers they found that skin exposed to kojic acid on a regular basis became more sensitive. This led them to conclude kojic acid may induce skin sensitization and they want to classify it as such. Skin sensitization is bad because it could lead to allergic contact dermatitis.

Kojic Conclusions

This report illustrates a few important points about the chemicals in cosmetics.

1. There is debate among scientists about chemical safety.  Reasonable people can disagree. Regulatory agencies in Europe and the US can look at the same safety data and come to completely different conclusions (banning hydroquinone for example).

2. Animal testing of cosmetics is still done. Even in Europe.

3. There is risk when you expose yourself to any chemical even if it has a history of safe use. If you are worried about things like this, your contact with all chemicals should be minimized.  It doesn’t matter if naturally derived or not since these can be skin sensitizers too.

Beauty Brains Bottom Line

Results from this report are not conclusive so more testing and data collection will be done by cosmetic makers who use kojic acid. Unfortunately, few ingredients actually provide a skin lightening benefit so if that’s what you want, you’ll have to continue to use these products.  But until more data is collected, you might want to apply just a little less.

Skeptical Susan says: In your story about cosmetics that really work, you mentioned all those products that don’t really do what they say. That made me wonder why don’t any of these companies ever get in trouble if they’re lying? I thought we had laws against false advertising.

The Right Brain retorts:
You’re correct, there are laws against false advertising. They vary from county to country but generally speaking for those laws to take effect someone has to initiate a challenge against the suspicious advertiser. That challenge can come from a consumer such as yourself, another company, or from an interested party such as a consumer group or governmental body.

Two ways to challenge

Regardless of who initiates the challenge, in the US there are two basic ways by which advertisements are “policed.” The first way involves taking the company directly to court because you believe you can show their advertisement is false and misleading. If the courts rule in the plaintiff’s favor, the offending company can be forced to stop specific advertising and they may have to pull recall product from distribution. In addition, the court can levy fines against the company if warranted. This is not usually the course that is followed because of the time and money involved in engaging the legal system.

Most of the time, cases are reviewed by an arbitrating body, specifically the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau. The NAD has no specific legal authority and can not punish companies for running bad ads, but their opinion carries a lot of weight. So if the NAD rules against a company, in most cases, the advertiser follows their advice (or they may face more severe action in court.) While the general public may not realize it, companies are challenged on their claims ALL the time. In fact here’s a recent example from the NAD case files issued April 2008:

Is Actifade illegal?

This case involves a product called Actifade, a sunspot/age spot fade cream. We’ve blogged before about similar products like Meladerm and other skin lighteners. These are Over The Counter (OTC) drugs because they contain active ingredients that reduce skin pigmentation. The NAD took issue with the advertiser’s claims because product performance claims should follow the language in the OTC drug monograph. Here’s how the NAD ruled on specific Actifade claims:

• Claims regarding “stopping sun spots, age spots and liver spots” implied that the product permanently eliminated skin discolorations and are not supported by any data from the advertiser. Claims about looking “5, 10, even 20 years younger” are also not supported. Both claims should be discontinued

• The claims “Younger looking skin has never been easier” and “Just rub it on and it works,” must be modified to avoid implying that the products immediately remove age spots

• The claim “Actifade combines a cosmetic with powerful medication that will fade sun spots, age spots and dark discoloration with no greasy mess” is acceptable and can be used.

The Beauty Brains Bottom Line

As a result of this NAD challenge, Actifade has agreed to change their advertising. If they had not agreed, they could have been taken to court to face more serious action. So there you have it – that’s how the system protects us from false advertising.

What do YOU think? Does the legal system do a good job of protecting the public from fraudulent cosmetic claims? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

Begam wants to believe: Does “Pond’s Flawless White Visible Lightening Daily Lotion” really make skin fairer and is it safe to use?

The Right Brain preaches about Ponds:
Thanks for the question. We’ve never been asked about Ponds, but we have blogged before about products like Definity and Meladerm that use skin lightening technologies.

Pond’s Lightening Lotion

Ponds is made by Unilever, a major global marketer of personal care products and we have no doubt that they have tested the product to ensure its safety. But does it really work? Let’s examine the ingredients:

Ingredients:
Water, Isopropyl Myristate, Niacinamide 3%, Stearic acid, Dimethicone, Glyceryl Stearate, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate 1.25% Glycerin, Triethanolamine, Titanium Dioxide 0.2%,
Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane 0.4%, Phenoxyethanol, Propylparaben, Sodium PCA, Tocopheryl Acetate 0.1%, Sodium Hydroxide , Disodium EDTA, BHT, Cl 14700.

Skin lightening technology

There are two ingredients we want you to pay attention to: Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate and Niacinamide. The former is a sunscreen. Since skin spots can be triggered by sun exposure, a sun protection cream will help keep your skin fairer. The second ingredient, Niacinamide, has been shown to reduce cutaneous pigmentation (in lab tests) and improve skin lightness (in clinical test) compared with a control vehicle alone after 4 weeks of use.

The Beauty Brains bottom line:

Based on the research we’ve found there does appear to be evidence that products like Ponds that are based on Niacinamide are effective lighteners. But remember, that the degree of benefit varies greatly depending on what’s causing the dark slots. For example, sun induced melanogenisis is treatable but dark spots caused by acne scars are not.

References:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

http://66.102.7.104/

http://ezinearticles.com/

http://answers.google.com/

Cat’s question: She wants to know if alpha arbutin, one of the ingredients in Meladerm skin lightener, is related to hydroquinone a skin lightening chemical that has safety concerns. She also wanted to know if Meladerm is safe to use for 2 or 3 months or longer.

The Left Brain Replies:
On Cat’s behalf, we contacted Civant and asked them to help answer her questions. Here is the response from John Connelly of Civant’s R&D department.

Answers about Arbutin

1) Arbutin is extracted from Bearberry (Uva Ursi) and is natural occurring substance, unlike synthetic hydroquinone. Arbutin is present not only in the Bearberry plant, but also found in many plant-derived foods. Arbutin can be converted into hydroquinone when introduced to very alkaline conditions. These conditions however are uncommon and most definitely do not occur on the skin. Gastric fluids are known to be alkaline, but the Arbutin would have to be taken orally for it to enter the gastrointestinal tract. Our product, Meladerm, uses Alpha-Arbutin as opposed to regular (beta) Arbutin. Alpha-Arbutin is considered the most stable and effective form of Arbutin and does not readily hydrolyze into hydroquinone.

Arbutin and hydroquinone each have a different chemical composition and differ greatly in their skin lightening properties. Arbutin inhibits melanin synthesis where as hydroquinone can actually be cytotoxic to melanocytes. Furthermore, Arbutin does not have the associated side effects of hydroquinone. Due to the safety concerns presented by the FDA, we do not use hydroquinone in our products.

2) We suggest discontinuing daily use after 3-4 months. This is generally advisable for all skin lighteners, and not just Meladerm. After a few months of use, you will find that the results will begin to plateau and regular applications will no longer be necessary.

If there are any further questions, please have your readers contact our customer service. For specific product questions, I would advise them to send an email through our website’s contact page. Emailing enables us to direct inquires to our R&D dept and allows the staff some time to fully investigate the questions and provide a thorough and knowledgeable response. Readers should ensure that their contact information is entered correctly so we do not encounter any issues when responding. It’s also a good idea for them to double-check their spam email filtering options as sometimes important emails can be unintentionally deleted by the filters.”

Thanks to Civant for promptly responding to Cat’s concerns. The Beauty Brains are glad we could be of help!

Want lighter skin in as fast as 2 weeks? Click here to try Meladerm skin lightener today!