Skin bleaching has been successfully used to lighten up intimate areas where skin discoloration has a visible impact. And, if you are considering having your skin bleached, chances are that you are wondering whether skin bleaching is a permanent solution?
Skin bleaching using skin lightening creams or serum is not permanent, while skin lightening using laser cosmetic skin lightening procedures is permanent. Beached skin with the help of bleaching products stays lighter in complexion as long as you keep using the skin lightening creams with glutathione or hydroquinone.
While the term skin bleaching has earned a bad reputation lately, the main goal for most people is to simply make use of products in order to get a lighter complexion on the skin or to get rid of the dark patches on your skin. People can of select kinds of skin bleaching products including bleaching creams, pills, soap, laser therapy, and other treatments like chemical peels to transform the look and feel of your skin pigmentation.
When you bleach your skin, it does not give you any health benefit and there is no 100% guarantee that you will get the results that you are looking for, sometimes skin bleaching can also cause a lot of side effects as well as complications on your skin. Therefore, it is essential for you to understand what skin bleaching is as well as its effects and risks on your skin.
Skin bleaching is not a permanent. When you use the skin bleaching products, or techniques they do not get rid of the melanin that is in your body permanently.
As the skin is continuously being renewed so are the cells found in the skin that produce melanin even when those cells are damaged. This is because as time goes by, there are some cells in the skin that are called stem cells which will transform into melanocytes which are responsible for melanin product.
Therefore, when you use products like creams and pills to bleach your skin, they will only reduce the amount of melanin in the body and once you stop using the pills or the cream, after some time, your natural skin color will start to return, unless if the melanocytes are being continuously suppressed that’s when the individual will stay light skinned.
How Skin Bleaching Works.
Skin bleaching works by reducing the production of melanin in the body. Melanin is a pigment that is responsible for the color on your body. This is produced by melanocytes.
Genes are what determine the amount of melanin that one has on their body. Dark skinned people have more melanin in their bodies than light skinned people.
Melanin production is affected by a lot of factors such as sunlight, hormones and chemicals. Therefore, skin bleaching products have ingredients that help to inhibit the production of melanin by reducing the number of melanocytes hence giving your skin a lighter complexion and appearance.
Benefits of skin bleaching
Skin bleaching also helps to give your skin some desirable effects because it can be used to treat some skin conditions.
1) Minimizing dark spots
Skin bleaching treatments help in reducing dark spots on the skin. Dark spots can be caused by a lot of effects such as aging, sun damage as well as hormonal changes. It can also be used to get rid of freckles, melasma, age spots as well as marks caused due to psoriasis and eczema.
2) Reducing scars
Using skin bleaching treatments can also help in reducing the appearance if scars from acne. These bleaching creams do not help in healing an active wound or reducing redness but they will help to get rid of the dark skin that comes after your wounds have healed.
3) Giving an even skin tone
Hyperpigmentation is a very big problem that can also be solved by bleaching creams. Bleaching crems will help to give your skin an even tone, it will reduce the areas on the skin that are discolored or affected by hyperpigmentation.
Hyperpigmentation can be caused by many factors such as sun damage. With skin bleaching crems you can also reduce the appearance of birthmarks and freckles.
How to use the products
How you use a skin bleaching product will vary depending on the kind of product that you are using to bleach the skin. There are bleaching creams, pills and many more products that you can use.
1) Creams
Creams are used by applying them to the area on the skin that you want to bleach. They are usually used for at least two times a day. Most of the creams come with directions on how you can use the cream and it is very advisable to follow the directions on that packaging.
Usually, the steps involve making sure that your hands are well clean, then applying the cream to the area sparingly, you can use a cotton pad or your hands for application. After using the cream your hands also need to be washed and the are needs to be left untouched. It is also advisable to protect the skin from sun damage by applying sunscreen because the creams may increase your sensitivity to the sun.
Skin lightening creams can have a lot of side effects on the skin. There are soke creams that can cause tour skin to get irritate or can cause swelling and redness, other creams cause a burning and stinging sensation and some may cause your skin to become itchy and flaky.
Some of the creams that contain hydroquinone or mercury in the formula can cause the following side effects:
- Make blood vessels visible in the skin
- Cause scarring
- Damage liver or kidney
- Turn the skin darker or too light
- Cause skin thinning
If you notice some of these possible side effects, it is very important to contact your doctor right away so that he/she can advise you on what to do next.
2) Pills
There are a lot of skin lightening pills available on the market. Usually, these pills are taken once a day. When it comes to the pills, there hasn’t been evidence of their effectiveness in bleaching the skin.
3) Laser
Skin bleaching can also be done using a laser. A laser is also used to lighten up the dark patches on your skin. With a laser, it can be used to damage the cells that are responsible for the production of melanin or by removing the outer layer of the skin.
This may also have some effects on other people but it has also proved effective for other people. Sometimes, this can just be temporary and the skin may get back to being dark.
This process is also very expensive due to the equipment that is used to get rid of the cells that produce melanin. It may also require you to go for a lot of sessions in order to achieve the results that you want.
Laser also has its own side effects which include: Bruising, blistering, swelling as well as redness. Other severe effects may include a skin infection, skin become darker or very light as well as scarring.
4) DIY
There is also DIY skin bleaching which involves the use of home remedies in order to lighten up the skin. This involves using things like hydrogen peroxide and lemon juice to treat hyperpigmentation on the skin, there are some of these home remedies that are effective where as some could also cause some effects on your skin.
For example, hydrogen peroxide and lemon juice can cause irritation on the skin. There are some home remedies like green tea extract, aloe vera and apple cider vinegar that are recommended for treating dark spots on the skin.
What are the side effects of bleaching?
Skin bleaching products can have some effects on your skin. Most of the skin products are not safe and this is according to most reviews that have given this as evidence. There are a lot of health effects that other skin bleaching products have been known to cause:
- Exogenous ochronosis which is an unwanted discoloration that may be caused by lighteners that include Hydroquinone
- Prolonged use of the bleaching products can cause your skin to age prematurely
- There is a risk of skin cancer if the products are used for a very long time
- Can cause skin thinning and your wounds may not heal properly
- Steroid acne which may be caused when the steroids are absorbed by your body
- Mercury poisoning
- Dermatitis
Precautions
Lightening products or skin bleaching products are not considered very safe or effective by the FDA. This is because some of these products may make your problem worse.
For dark skin, it is not recommended to use these products as they may make your skin tone even darker. They should not be used on children as well as on pregnant women.
It is safer to ask a doctor or a dermatologist before you use these skin lightening products, this is because a doctor or a dermatologist can give you a lightning product according to your needs and the problem that you want to fix.
It is also very important to do a thorough research on the products before you use them because they may have some serious side effects on your skin.
Conclusion
Skin bleaching is a procedure thar involves using procedures and techniques to make your skin tone lighter. There are a lot of things that people can use to lighten up their complexion such as crems, pills, soap as well some professional laser therapy and chemical peels sessions.
Skin bleaching is not permanent because the cells in the body continuously renew themselves, therefore if the cells responsible for the production of melanin are not kept suppressed for a long time, the original dark skin tone of the individual will start to return.
