Vietnamese women are risking permanent disfigurement and damage to their health using "ultra speed" skin bleaching products of uncertain origin to whiten their skin, thinking it will make them more beautiful.
Patient consults doctor at Bach Mai Hospital
A 19-year-old dancer in Long An Province bought a skin bleaching product advertised it as a "South Korean imported product." Three weeks later, she was hospitalised with a severe skin rash. A woman in HCM City used a locally made skin-whitening cream for five years, which left her with dangerously thin skin and wrinkles like an old woman.
Many women hospitalised after using 'ultra speed' skin bleaching products
Nguyen Trong Hao, vice head of the HCM City Dermatology Hospital, said many cases were being seen, because so-called "ultra speed" skin bleaching products have corticosteroids, powerful anti-inflammatory agents with a wide-range of side-effects. Cheap products, and those of unknown origin, contain mercury and other harmful substances.
Formulae and ingredients to create skin-bleaching cream at home are easily found online. Some markets in HCM City sell some of the ingredients, and some products advertised are promoted as being of South Korean origin, but do not have barcodes. Websites promote a "secret formula" to avoid listing ingredients.
