The stern act of bleaching is recalled in the history of man in many of his day-to-day activities of life and primarily aimed in most activities as practiced to wear-off the outer layer or surface of the sufferer in question. It is defined as the process of whitening or removing the natural outer color of a body such as is done in many foodstuffs of today and eventually depriving the food of its relevant nutritional value for consumption. A typical example is as found in the case of the cherished “refined perfumed rice” and the chancrous skin bleaching menace of our society which now has become perilously alarming as a result of its increasing global health implications.

Skin bleaching was first known as a culture among the Geisha women of Japan who painted themselves white in the name of beautification as a culture but excluded the use of chemicals. Though it is unnatural to change one’s skin colour by any standard, it is employed in medical treatment for certain skin disorders as we have in the case of Chloasma and Vitiligo.

Specific zones of abnormally high pigmentation such as moles and birthmarks may be depigmented to match the surrounding skin. Conversely, in cases of Vitiligo, unaffected skin may be lightened to achieve a more uniform appearance.

However, in cases where these spot treatment creams are used in attempt to lighten the entire complexion, all of the current methods are considered ineffective while complete skin depigmentation is totally unrealistic since there is always a re-growth of the natural colouration. An additional application is genital or anal bleaching, intended to reduce the typically darker pigmentation of the genital and perennial area.

Meanwhile, millions of people today around the globe throw themselves to the risk of patronizing hazardous chemicals in the name of fashion where both men and women are found guilty of. In a publication by USA Today in January 2006, Sheryl McCarthy, a freelance journalist, criticizes the worsening of the “black is beautiful” mantra which basically states that “African features [are] also attractive” and should be protected and maintained.

Skin bleaching in our modern day science occurs as a result of inhibition of the skin pigment called melanin which is being formed by the melanocyte cell and stimulated by an enzyme called tyrosinase which creates the color of the skin, eyes, and hair shades.

Nature of the Human Skin
The skin is significant in playing many roles in enhancing a person’s survival as in many other mammals. It forms a barrier that helps prevent harmful microorganisms and chemicals from entering the body while preventing loss of life-sustaining body fluids. It also functions to protect the vital structures in the body from injury and from the potential damages from the ultraviolet rays of the sun.

The skin also helps regulate body temperature, excretes some waste products, and is an important sensory organ. It contains various types of specialized nerve cells responsible for the sense of touch and all other natural features of the skin such as colouration and amount of hair are made purposely to enhance adaptation into a particular environment in which an individual find himself in.

Generally, the skin is the body’s largest organ with that of an average adult male weighing 4.5 to 5 kg (10 to 11 lb) and measuring about 2 sq m (22 sq ft) in area. It covers the surface of the body at a thickness of just 1.4 to 4.0 mm (0.06 to 0.16 in) which when continually bleached could directly wear out making skin surgeries a fatality in case of any medical urgencies such as cuts or severe burns. The skin is thickest on areas of the body that regularly rub against objects, such as the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. Both delicate and resilient, the skin constantly renews itself and has a remarkable ability to repair itself after injury.

Functions of the melanin in the human body
Recent research by J.D. Simon et al. suggests that melanin may serve many protective roles other than only protecting the skin against the scorches of the sun’s rays. According to the research, melanin is able to effectively bind metal ions and hence may thus serve to put away potentially toxic metal ions, protecting the rest of the cell from being affected. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the loss of neuromelanin observed in Parkinson's disease is accompanied by an increase in iron levels in the brain.

Melanocytes insert granules of melanin into specialized cellular vesicles called melanosomes. These are then transferred into the other skin cells of the human epidermis. The melanosomes in each recipient cell accumulate on the cell nucleus, where they protect the nuclear DNA from genetic mutations caused by the ionizing radiation of the sun's ultraviolet rays. Whereas the development of three to seven different gene mutation consequently leads to skin cancer.

People whose ancestors lived for long periods in the regions of the globe near the equator generally have larger quantities of eumelanin in their skins. This makes their skins brown or black and protects them against high levels of exposure to the sun, which more frequently results in a skin disorder called melanomas in lighter skinned people.

As with peoples who migrated northward, those with light skin who migrate toward the equator acclimatize to the much stronger solar radiation. Most people's skin darkens when exposed to UV light, giving them more protection when it is needed. This is the physiological purpose of sun tanning. Dark-skinned people, who produce more skin-protecting eumelanin, have a greater protection against sunburn and the development of melanoma, a potentially deadly form of skin cancer, as well as other health problems related to exposure to strong solar radiation, including the photodegradation of certain vitamins such as riboflavins, carotenoids, tocopherol, and folate.

Melanin in the eyes, in the iris and choroid, helps protect them from ultraviolet and high-frequency visible light; people with gray, blue, and green eyes are more at risk for sun-related eye problems. Further, the ocular lens yellows with age, providing added protection. However, the lens also becomes more rigid with age; losing most of its accommodation which is the eyes ability to change shape to focus from far to near believed to be a detriment due to protein cross linking caused by UV exposure.

Chemical substances in creams used in destroying the melanin
It is significant for the public to understand that introduction of synthesized chemicals substances into the human system is not in the utmost interest of the natural biochemical being and hence any chemical substance acquired should be authenticated by federal bodies in charge of food and drug scrutiny while individuals who are the end users and consequential sufferers of the eventualities of this products should be wise to seek for professional guidelines before use.

Nevertheless, it turns worse when certain unregulated substances as below are ignorantly induced on the body to the detriment of the public health. It is relevant to note that all materials introduced on the surface of the skin directly enter the body (bloodstream) through the tiny skin pores from which perspiration occurs.

I would also like to emphasize on the fact that most toxic chemicals used are either extremely banned or highly checked, monitored and very regulated in most developed countries around the world as it is in the case of most skin-bleaching mercury substances, a very poisonous element when exposed to the body and we should note with certainty that manufacturing and distributing of all mercury-based skin-lighten in Europe and North America thus (Mire), 2000 has been outlawed. It is therefore a caution for the other part of the world to protect their citizens’ health.

Thereafter came the emerging accidental discovery of hydroquinone in 1938 by black workers at the tannery plant who observed a discolouration of their hands after several works in the factory and conveyed this to the scientific world some of which saw it as an adventure to make money from bleaching hence launching a convincing publicity to win the heart of many at the sad risk of their health.

Health risks of skin bleaching
Mercury poisoning has become one of the major health problems encountered by numerous people patronizing creams that has it as a constituent. The poisoning process tends to occur very gradually and showing forth many symptoms such as notably “a tight feeling of the chest, chills, diarrhea, metallic taste, nausea, vomiting, emotional instability, irritability, depression, forgetfulness, insomnia, muscular weakness, renal failure, and loss of teeth” (Mire, 2003). Person experiencing some this are advised to examine among other things, any over-the-counter skin-lightening potions they use.

In February 24, 2008 Australia’s Sunday Telegraph records a piece for this august newspaper where Miawling Lam warns Australians about two popular but dangerous skin color-lightening products on the market naming them as John Plunkett’s Superfade Original and Thorburn’s Whitening Cream.

These products have been known, Lam alleges, to cause “leukemia, liver damage, thyroid disorders and decreases in the formation of melanin.” This proves the creams we put on the skin are as good as the food we eat to grow since they all are fetched at the end into the blood stream and further transported to all parts of the body.

Whereas in January 13, 2007, edition of the London’s Daily Mail, Paul Bracchi, warns colored people in Harlesden, North-West London, about the introduction to market of a very harmful skin-lightener called Maxi Whit; Bracchi takes the time to narrate one person’s horror story saying: “It worked quite well to start with, but as I carried on using it, my skin became thin and dehydrated. My forehead looked like a crinkled up piece of paper it was so cracked. Then, ugly blotches which developed into boils and ulcers started appearing on my face. I was a complete mess.”

These were the customer’s own words! Bracchi concludes: “If [hydroquinone] which is used in certain industrial processes enters [the] bloodstream, it can cause fatal liver and kidney damage.”

And according to an article published by a Ghanaian writer on Wikipedia on the 25 April, 2008, Daniel K. Pryce, a member of the National Honor Society for Public Affairs and Administration in the U.S.A., he stressed as I quote; “Skin-bleaching products should have been banned in the country by now, as was done in Kenya in 2001 and in several other African nations” and in actual fact most of these  materials are illegal and could barely be sold to the public for use in their home of origin.

Meanwhile, it is more important for the general public to understand the medical havoc they expose themselves to when substandard health sensitive substance of such nature are dolled on them and gladly convinced incautiously for use in harming themselves and their natural endowment in the subject of their skin colouration which is mostly from thick skin to lighter ones deficient in enough protective melanin pigment.

The public should therefore learn to understand that our passion is our fashion and while passion is inherent so is our original true nature, so inherent and exuberant enough to be our very fashion.

Story: Master Appiah Grant (Laboratory Scientist, Adabraka Clinic)
Email: artlits@gmail.com