Skin Care Ingredient : Hydroquinone

This is my first entry on beauty ingredients.
I have always been so ignorant on the ingredients used in my beauty products but ever since I started on this blog and reading about others' blogs, I decided to start reading up on skin care ingredients so that I know what I have been using all along on my face.

Knowing the name of ingredients and whats in your daily beauty essentials meant :
- you know what you are paying for
- you know what its expected to perform
- you know how effective it may be
- you know if it will be harmful to you with prolonged usage

These are things which no one will ever tell you, not your beautician, your dermatologist or your beauty promoter.
So lets us start sharing our beauty knowledge from this entry onwards.
Look out for my skin care ingredient glossary list.

Asians have always been quite obsessed with whitening, including myself so I started with this ingredient :

Hydroquinone

Some whitening face creams in the market use this ingredient, claiming it to be able to whiten your skin tone.
In short, its a skin bleaching lightening ingredient, a maximum of 2% is sold over the counter; higher concentrations available by prescription.

Hydroquinone products are popular for their skin-lightening properties, usually marketed for reducing age spots and blemishes.
It works by decreasing the production and increasing the breakdown of melanosomes (melanin pigment granules) in the skin's pigment cells (melanocytes). It does this by inhibiting the activity of tyrosinase, the enzyme needed to make melanin.

Hydroquinone tends to thin the skin, making it more photosensitive, but the sun in turn increases melanin production, reducing the effects of hydroquinone. As such, hydroquinone should always be used with a sunscreen.

Hydroquinone has been linked to
- the medical condition known as ochronosis in which the skin becomes dark and thick
- being harmful to an unborn baby and nursing baby
- cancer
- liver and kidney failure
- developmental toxicity
- mercury poisoning

A more detailed read on the dangers of Hydroquinone can be found here

" Prolonged use of Hydroquinone will thicken collagen fibers damaging the connective tissues resulting in rough blotchy skin leaving it with a spotty darkened appearance. These dangerous products can also thin the skin, leaving it with irreversible stretch marks. A common result of skin bleaching with these dangerous ingredients is a condition called ocronosis in which the pigment drops into the dermis making it almost impossible to remove. Many have reported a blackening of the skin that looks worse than the original brown spots ever did. And sadly, once this damage has been done, it is usually irreversible. Mercury will slowly accumulate within the skin cells striping the skin of it’s natural pigment leaving behind a grayish/blue pigmentation in the folds of the skin. In the long term the chemical will damage vital organs and lead to liver and kidney failure and mercury poisoning. "

Note :
- Do not use benzoyl peroxide, hydrogen peroxide, or other peroxide products when using hydroquinone.
- Do not use when you are pregnant or breast-feeding

Its been reported to be used in the following product types:
- skin fading/lightener
- facial moisturiser/treatment
- products with SPF
- anti-aging
- hair colour & bleaching
- concealer
- facial cleanser
- toners/astringents

Products with Hydroquinone are considered as "gold-standard" products used by dermatologist to lighten your skin.

Read the label on your beauty products now.
Does it contain hydroquinone?