South Korean actress Lee Young-Ae
The cream that she applied to her face and neck was supposed to transform her into a white-skinned beauty, the kind she saw on page after page in women’s magazines and on television.
But rather than lighten her complexion, the illegally produced lotion she bought in a local grocery store near this village in southeastern Thailand disfigured her skin into an unsightly patchwork of albino pink and dark brown, a condition that doctors say might be irreversible.
At a time when whiter skin is being aggressively marketed across Asia as beautiful and healthy, Panya’s case illustrates the lengths that some women will go to change their complexions - and the dangers that this sometimes entails, reports the International Herald Tribune
The vast selections of skin-whitening creams on supermarket and pharmacy shelves are testament to an industry that has flourished over the past decade, with 4 out of 10 women in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan now using a skin-whitening cream, a survey conducted by Synovate, a market research company, found.
The skin-whitening craze, which runs parallel to the global trend of cosmetic surgery and botox injections, is not just for the face. It includes creams that whiten darker patches of skin in armpits and "pink nipple" lotions that bleach away brown-colored pigment.
Women buy sunscreen creams to wear to the office in case they are struck by stray rays while commuting, the modern equivalent of the huge parasols that servants once carried to shield their masters from the intense Asian sun.
And while many if not most skin-whitening creams are safe, doctors, consumer groups and government officials are reporting dangerous consequences of the white-is- beautiful trend: Instead of treating blemishes, women are applying potent creams in large and harmful doses.
Inexpensive black-market products with powerful but illegal bleaching agents are also selling briskly throughout the poorer parts of south and Southeast Asia. "I have a lot of complaints - with photographs - which show that before the cream is used the face is fine and then after it looks like it’s been roasted in the oven," said Darshan Singh, the manager for Malaysia’s National Consumer Complaints Center, a non-profit group in Kuala Lumpur.
Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration has published a list of 70 skin- whitening creams circulating illegally around the country. Indonesian officials have identified more than 50 banned cosmetics.
But there are also questions about legitimate creams. Some doctors say that hydroquinone, prescribed for years by dermatologists around the world to remove blemishes, may be cancerous, especially if used over an extended period of time in large doses.
Hydroquinone, which is also used in photo processing materials, has been shown to cause leukemia in mice and other animals. The European Union banned the ingredient from cosmetics in 2001 but it remains widely available in prescription drugs or in bootleg creams in many parts of the developing world.
It is also sold in the United States as an over-the-counter drug with potency of less than two percent.
Two doctors recently published an article in a European medical journal last year calling the long-term side effects of hydroquinone-based creams a "potential time bomb."
ociologists have long debated why Asians, who are divided by everything from language to religion to ethnicity, share a deeply held cultural belief that lighter skin is more attractive.
One commonly repeated rationale is that a lighter complexion is associated with wealth and higher education levels because those from lower social classes, laborers and farmers, are exposed to the sun and thus have darker complexions.
Another theory is linked to the waves of lighter-skinned conquerors, the Moguls from Central Asia or the colonizers from Europe, whose complexions became the standard for attractiveness.
"The success of the skin whiteners signifies that the Western concept of beauty in terms of skin color has finally seeped down to the lower classes," said Randy David, a sociologist at the University of the Philippines.
Nithiwadi Phuchareuyot, a doctor at a skin clinic in Bangkok who dispenses products and treatments to lighten skin, said: "Every Thai girl thinks that if she has white skin the money will come and the men will come.
"The movie stars are all white-skinned, and everyone wants to look like a superstar."
In Thailand, as in other countries in the region, the stigma of darker skin is rooted in language. One common insult is "tua dam," or black body, a rude term to degrade someone of lower social standing. Along the same lines are "e dam" (black girl) or "dam tap pet" (black like a duck’s liver).
Films and advertising also clearly have a role in promoting the idea that whiter skin is more beautiful. The runaway success of South Korean soap operas across the region has made its lighter- skinned stars emblems of Asian beauty.
Advertisements for skin-whitening products promote whiter skin as glowing and healthier. Olay, a popular brand, has a product called "white radiance." L’Oréal markets products called "white perfect."
In a survey carried out in June 2004 by Synovate, 61 percent of respondents in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan said they felt they looked younger with a fair complexion. Half of Filipino women, 45 percent of Hong Kong women and 41 percent of Malaysian women said they were currently using a skin-whitening product.
There are small groups of people in Asia who seem to prefer tanned skin. In Japan, young women commonly referred to as "Shibuya girls," after the Tokyo neighborhood they hang out in, have been regular patrons of tanning salons for a decade.
But they are an asterisk in Japanese society and indeed in Asia over all.
"Everybody else basically wants white skin," said Leeyong Soo, the international fashion coordinator at Vogue Nippon, the Japanese edition of the fashion magazine.
"People might say to you when you come back from a holiday, ‘Oh you have a tan.’ But it’s not necessarily complimentary."
Last year 62 new skin-whitening products were introduced in supermarkets or pharmacies across the Asia-Pacific region, according to Datamonitor, a market research firm, accelerating a trend that has seen an average of 56 new products introduced annually over the past four years.
These products work in various ways. Some are based on active ingredients like hydroquinone, mulberry extract, licorice extract, kojic acid or arbutin, and they inhibit the formation of melanin, or skin pigment. Others are acids that remove old skin.
The most effective but risky skin-bleaching agents are often the least expensive, like hydroquinone, which sells for about $20 per kilogram, compared to highly concentrated licorice extract, which sells for about $20,000 a kilo.
Last year, Wiete Westerhof, a dermatologist who founded the Netherlands Institute for Pigment Disorders in Amsterdam, and T.J. Kooyers, a Dutch chemist, wrote a commentary in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology calling for more research into the hazardous side effects of hydroquinone.
"All recent evidence from the literature indicates that the use of hydroquinone as a skin lightening agent should be stopped completely," Westerhof and Kooyers wrote. "We are of the opinion that it is a potential time bomb."
Doctors, some of whom have stopped prescribing hydroquinone, say it remains one of the most widely used chemicals to bleach skin.
"It’s very, very commonly used," said Anil Ganjoo, a dermatologist in New Delhi and the president of the Indian Association of Dermatologists, Venereologists and Leprologists. "Almost every anti-pigment treatment uses hydroquinone."
Thada Piamphongsant, the president of the Thai Society of Cosmetic Dermatology and Surgery, said he believed that about half of all Thai dermatologists prescribe creams with hydroquinone. He stopped prescribing it a decade ago when he noticed patients with redness and itching and with more serious side effects like ochronosis, the appearance of very dark patches of skin that are difficult to remove.
Some patients also develop leukoderma, where the skin loses the ability to produce pigment, resulting in patches of pink like those on Panya’s face and neck.
When Panya first began using the cream, which was packaged under the name "3 Days" and cost the equivalent of US$1, she said she was very happy with the results.
Her skin started itching, but she tolerated it because her complexion lightened considerably. Customers in the restaurant where she sang Thai folk songs gave her bigger tips, she said.
But when her face became blotchy, two months after she began using the cream, her life fell apart. Her boss told her she could no longer sing at the restaurant because she was unsightly.
Today she is broke and broken- hearted.
"I never look in the mirror anymore," she said, sobbing during an interview with the Tribune.
Last month, she told her story on a Thai television program, breaking down as she described how she lost her job and ruined her face.
Just before she was introduced, the announcer on the program ran through a list of the show’s sponsors, including a cream called "White Beauty."
"Use this cream," the announcer said. "It gives you expert treatment."
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what's with all the flat face
what's with all the flat face comments? asians may have flat faces but at least they don't have brow ridges like CAVE MEN. that's right. take a look at your ugly brow ridge and call yourself a cave man you racist sons' of bitches.
get a grip
Asians look better and more natural in their normal skin tones, which is not bleached white. I feel sorry for those who cannot come to terms with reality and be themselves in their own skin. No skin no is more superior, all are equally beautiful. So stop having illusions of grandeur thinking that everyone wants to be one colour, please get over your sorry self.
And finally tanning is a natural part of nature, when you go out the sun's radiation it naturally hits you, too much can be dangerous. However it does not rip out the melamine in your skin like bleaching which is even worse.
ASEANS LOOK BETTER IN WHITE SKIN
I think Aseans look better in white skin cause most Aseans look younger and cute compare to the Europeans. Which countries have the most hottest, cutest girls? Aseans of course, the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans mostly. So, no offence. Aseans are way better.
ASEANS LOOK BETTER IN WHITE SKIN
I think Aseans look better in white skin cause most Aseans look younger and cute compare to the Europeans. Which countries have the most hottest, cutest girls? Aseans of course, the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans mostly. So, no offence. Aseans are way better.
ASEANS LOOK BETTER IN WHITE SKIN
I think Aseans look better in white skin cause most Aseans look younger and cute compare to the Europeans. Which countries have the most hottest, cutest girls? Aseans of course, the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans mostly. So, no offence. Aseans are way better.
louis vuitton
Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton, or shortened to LV, is an international French fashion house specializing in trunks, leather goods, ready-to-wear, shoes, watches, jewelry, accessories, sunglasses, and books. Known the world over for its iconic Louis Vuitton Tivoli PMand logo, Louis Vuitton Speedyis one of the most recognizable brands in the world. A long time symbol of prestige and wealth, the company commands some of the highest prices in the international fashion market for its products.
be proud of your skin tome
I'm Filipino too, i love our morena skin..
and yup my role model is Bianca Golzalez too, search for her on the internet and you'll see a perfect natural tan skin..
http://circles.globe.com.ph/celebrity/files/2009/03/bianca-02.jpg
http://circles.globe.com.ph/celebrity/files/2009/06/bianca-gonzalez-08.jpg
Great Comment
Hi I agree with the above patron. It is a fact that Asians look better naturally darker. It is Asians whos complexion is bronzey yellow jst how Beyonce and other Americans desire their complexions to be. Even we Latinos tan our skin or lighten it to become Golden in color. But it makes Asians flat faces, and flat noses stand out too much if they are white, it looks horrible and a lot of people dislike Asians that look like that in America, my friend Jen Ho, from vietnam is one of them, very chinese looking and they call her whore, slut, bitch, skank and camel toe face...when she stopped bleaching, all the white, blk and hispanic men now desire her. She is so pretty. Please if you are thinking about coming to America, do not look pasty white, you will never get hired....everything is about image in the U.S, especially if you have bleach streaks all across your pan caked face. No, don't do it to yourself booo.....pls don't. Dye your hair with the blond streaks too, like the Japense girls do, because that stiff black wig is not working either. Keep a nice caramel complexion and smile more, because asians are so depressed and confused here they very rarely smile. Thanks
ALL YOU IDIOTS ARE PATHETIC
NOW MY PEOPLE...WE NEED TO SHIFT OUR ATTENTION ON GLOBAL WARMING...THIS IS WHAT WE SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW, AS IT RELATES TO ASIA, A MANY OF ASIAN COUNTRIES ARE NESTLED ON COASTAL REGIONS OF THE PACIFIC. THE MELTING OF THE EARTH'S POLAR CAPS ARE INCREASING OCEAN AND SEA LEVELS....THIS IS NOT GOOD. WE NEED TO CREATE AND INVENT NEW TECHNOLOGY THAT WILL BE ABLE TO A) REBUILD THE DAMAGE ICECAPS B) FIND A WAY TO ADVERT CALAMITY...MY BEST CHOICE IS A) I DON'T REALLY SEE HOW WE CAN PREDICT THE OUTCOME OF SUCH (NATURAL DEPLETION)..... IF YOU FIND THIS INTERESTING AND WOULD LIKE TO CHAT, HIT ME UP AT INGODITRUST100@GMAIL.COM.... I'LL BE WAITING.... ' - )
BYE AND HAVE A GREAT DAY!!
ALL YOU IDIOTS ARE PATHETIC
I AM AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE...AND I MUST SAY THAT I AM SO DISGUSTED BY READING THIS CRAP...TO BE HONEST ALL RACES HAVE BEAUTY, TRY GETTING A MIXED CHILD AND THEN YOU WILL BE GOING SOMEWHERE...ASIANS HAVE BAD BODIES AND FLAT FACES, YET ASIANS HAVE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL EYES AND GREAT HAIR, WHITES HAVE BAD BODIES(SOME) AND AGE HORRIBLY AND LOOK LIKE IKABOD CRANE WHEN THEY ARE 33...LOL YET THEY ARE CULTURED TO BE POISED, VERY ATTRACTIVE WHEN YOUNG UP UNTIL 33...NOW FOR BLKS, (NOW TO BE HONEST BLKS IN AMERICA ARE MORE RACIALLY MIXED THAN AFRICAN , BRITS AND SOME CARAIBEAN...BUT BLAKS GENERALLY HAVE FLAT NOSES (AS ASIANS), BIG BUTTS, NOT VERY POISED, AND BIG DICKS, THIS CAN BE A PROBLEM PPL...WE ALL HAVE THINGS IN OUR RACE THAT ARE NOT ATTRACTIVE, THE MORE MIXED I SAY THE MORE EXOTIC WE CAN "POSSIBLY" LOOK, NOT WILL LOOK...WE ARE ALL GOD'S CHILDREN, SO LOVE WHO YOU ARE AND EMBRACE OTHER CULTURES, I THINK, NO JST KIDDING, EAT GOOD FOOD, DRINK GOOD WINES AND EDUCATE YOURSELVES, IT WILL MAKE YOU LIVE LONGER....CHEERS AND LOVE FROM NY!!
Well I'm chinese and in my
Well I'm chinese and in my family I've seen my mum using bleaching cream on her skin and when everytime I get a tan (I get tanned easily) people tell me not to go out into the sun anymore you look like a piece of charcoal. So I started bleaching my own skin but I realized I'm never gonna have a pale complexion like all the others cause I tan easily so I didn't bother anymore. But having white skin is part of the chinese culture and it symbolizes beauty we have a saying that is... having white skin covers all flaws <- (something like that) And no this have nothing to do with the media it has been like this for centuries. (Before chinese people even met a white person and has never seen a black person)
Japanese- same thing it has nothing to do with the media it is the culture -> geishas wearing thick white powder.
Asians? HA what a joke
Asians have flat faces. What could they possibly offer to the stupid white people?
C'mon now it's ridiculous one day whites will be outnumbered by the "minorities" Sooner or later WHITES will be the minority.
Just a shame
The efforts by cosmetics companies to make people feel ugly and unsatisfied with their natural skin color is just disgusting.
Selling products that improve people's lives is perfectly acceptable, but creating artificial demand for products by first insulting a person's natural appearance and then providing the expensive and sometimes dangerous solution to their "problem" is just wrong.
Another article describing the advertising that goes on is here.
what is wrong with being black?
wow lol. i am black and only 14 years old. i am really short and haven't grew an inch since 6th grade witch is better than i want it. i love being short,being tall is like looking down alot. but i doubt that white people are the only race that's more beautiful. you guys act like you are god's favorite creation,like come on. he created jewish woman,black woman,hispanic woman and native woman. what is so great about being white? i have always loved my family and i why would i want to agree on disgusting media talk and ignorrance and change everything i love to be the same? eeewwwww. i'm just different what can i say. being different and looking different is interesting and it makes the world happy. why would i want to be the same and think the same. crazy,if there was green,yellow,red,blue and purple people in this world it would be so gorgeous and colorful. i wouldn't change myself for a bit or for 20,000 if your askin mey! white is pale and easily to notice and am i going around town showin off my legs and askin people do i look finer and stuff? noooo,i don't go surffing through the web so i can prove to blacks or mexicans whatever that im superior and fine lookin. get over the crap and appreciate life the way it works and stop judging others. it makes it seem like you hate your own self because your worrying about other races to see if they are catchin up. its not that serious. gosh! some white people are so overrated with the beauty stuff,oh my lord! yeah there is black beauty in ebony magazines and on tv but we are not all over the commercials,websites,and stuff. we are kinda on the edge. drop it!!!! my damn lol
Stupid trend
It doesn't matter what colour your skin is, if you don't have the nicely proportioned facial features you'll be ugly anyway. Most Asians are born with naturally pale skin anyway. I am Vietnamese and my skin has always been pale since birth. It's pale with a yellow undertone. Though I think my eyes stand out better whenever I tan.
A note about hydroquinone
I feel desperately sorry for the woman in question. I wish I could do something to help her. Im a fair skinned redhead and my parents were vigilant about keeping me out of the sun, but you cant watch kids all the time, and one day when I was twelve I went out and got sunburnt, mainly on my face and especially around my eyes/cheekbones. Im twenty five now, and thirteen years on the effects are visible; yellowy freckles and creases under my eyesockets and at the corners when I smile. I vowed that I'd drink more water, take Omega 3 and a collagen supplement, wear sunscreen every day and lighten the hyper pigmentation caused by sunburn using a hydroquinone based cream that I bought on the net from the US company Paulas Choice. The company has a EU and a US site, and I soon found out why. It burned the goddam face off me. I was raw and red and my skin was HOT to touch, like I'd been sunburned all over again. Ive. stopped using it and just bought a different foundation that covers my freckles and evens my skin tone. That stuff is banned in the EU for a REASON!! Now I just use their SPF 30 spray- the best sunblock in the world, yet strangely still only available on their US site.
The grass in greener on the other side...
Its interesting because people are obsessed with what they don't have. Why is it many Europeans want tanned and bronze skin? I guess its human nature....
Mass Marketing
In the end, like everything else in this world, it's all about money and pressure. No one is ever going to be happy, because such is the power of the media. I'm extremely white faced. Does that automatically make me feel like I fit in? Nope. People tell me I look sick, I need more color in my cheeks, I need a tan, I need to wear brighter clothes...the list goes on. So, no matter what, you just can't satisfy everyone.
wow, that white person that
wow, that white person that said whites are the best and the most beautiful is crap! i dont agree, maybe sometimes whites might be beautiful but not ALL of them are gorgeous. like, seriously, not everyone wants to be like you. -_- it just pisses me off sometimes how these people comment as if everyone in the world agrees with them. im sorry honey but seriously get over it and stop being vain. i honestly agree that white skin is more beautiful (my opinion) but that doesnt mean anything about me wanting to be caucasian. have alot to say but that comment just ticked me off =.=
Wow Asians are sad
Wow Asians are sad
Just have to love ourselves...
I'm from the Philippines and people here are so obsessed w/ white skin. However, I love my beautiful brown skin and I'm proud of it since lots of Americans complimented me on it when I visited the US before. I think I look mixed and exotic because of it and I don't wanna look like an ordinary light skinned asian (no offense) No skin color is superior! Every skin tone is beautiful i their own way. I hope that you people get that in your psyches.
My role model is this filipina actress:
http://img2.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire4/07212008/b/2/b/f/b2bfe1b17f7c10_...
In all her years in the industry, she hasn't made an effort to change her brown skin and she even professed publicly that she'll never change it! Not all are obsessed w/ white skin btw :P
brainless freaks
It's all about being comfortable in your own skin....even if the skin tone does lighten, it looks fake. Plus what's the point of ruining the skin more if you can't better it. it's just too lame an idea. I think all skin colors are attractive in one way or the other so we should be happy with whatever we have. God did not create anyone ugly.
And besides what's the use of beauty without brains??
BTW i like the ending of the article.
So ridiculous. Many Japanese
So ridiculous. Many Japanese girls have naturally beautiful light skin. Who said anything about wanting to look like caucasians? THey just want to look like beautiful Japanese stars, who are hotter than any caucasian chicks...except maybe Taylor Swift.
when was this posted?
when was this posted?
Hmm, this article sort of
Hmm, this article sort of makes sense. Generally it is considered more attractive to look like white people (caucasians), oriental/indian/african/latino attractiveness is simply a percentage of how much one looks like a fully caucasian person, because they are the best looking people that the world's genetic pool has to offer. No matter what society says about the "perception" of whites to be superior, it simply does not hold up in light of the overwhelming evidence of white beauty. Simply put, it is not possible for the other races to catch up or make themselves more like caucasians because it is something inherent in the white race to be beautiful. Taking a look at mainstream media (regardless of the location) more white people are being portrayed in advertisements because corporations know that people will buy products just because the presence of a white association if simply seen as beautiful, and deep down inside all asians/blacks/people of other races want to become like white people. There's just no way to argue out of the white superiority theory regardless of how culturally sensitive we're supposed to be.
I think only Asians desire to be white out of all the others
I am an American and I can tell you that out of all the races that I deal with it is probably Indians and Asians who kiss by ass the most. The funny thing is that most women in American think either White guys or Black guys are the hottest.
Colorism
Latin America and Africa are also suffering from this. Even in African American circles who have had the slogan "Black is beautiful" still have colorism.
This is so deeply rooted that it is going to take a consumer ed campaign and lots of other initiatives to change it.
Asians Can Never Have Naturally White Skin, So...
Take good care of your golden-brown. That picture of the actress up top is soooo FAKE.
...
This article makes it seem as if whiter skin is bad. Whose to say tanned skin is better?
hey
I blame men
How come?
Did men tell them to change their skin tone/color,...........NOPE!!!!
blame men
you're an idiot, blame yourselves for not having a backbone
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