Scams and health fears surrounding skin whitening injections

The young woman dreamed of having “clear skin” and received injections three days in a row at a market stall in Abidjan. But he waited ten days and there were no results. “They deceived me“, acknowledges the YouTuber, who asks to be identified with the pseudonym Anita.

Many women, influenced by a fair-skinned beauty ideal, depigment their skin in West Africa, mainly with the help of commercially available creams, despite being harmful.

Is “a global public health problem that requires urgent attention”, The World Health Organization (WHO) noted in November.

In recent years, in addition to ointments – some of which prematurely age the skin, cause pimples or contain carcinogenic substances – ampoules and vials have appeared.

These liquids injected into veins are very popular, especially among younger women. They are attributed a “faster” and “uniform” effect, explains Marcellin Doh, president of a group of NGOs that fights against this practice in the Ivory Coast.

So far neither health authorities nor the WHO seem to seriously address the specific dangers of these injections, unlike those of creams, which are widely documented.

Their composition is not very transparent, they feed a network of scams, as demonstrated by a product purchased by AFP in the Ivory Coast and sent to France for analysis, revealing a difference between what was advertised on the packaging and the content.

In Cocovico, a market in Abidjan, a woman asks to buy a liquid that “lightens the skin”. A saleswoman takes a batch of ten vials out of a fanny pack and negotiates their price at just over $40.

Beyond the discreet physical points of sale, dozens of Ivorian, Cameroonian, Senegalese or even Nigerian Facebook pages openly propose these substances, claiming “a uniform whitening down to the bone marrow.”

The administrator of an online store located in Abidjan, contacted by phone and who wishes to remain anonymous, claims to sell “imported products” from Southeast Asia, Italy or Switzerland.

In his opinion, liquids are “of good quality” because “They are medicines.”

In reality, their composition escapes all control, as does their method of manufacture, and if they were medicines, their deviation could have serious consequences.

“Because of their side effects, they are assumed to be corticosteroids,” explains Sarah Kourouma, dermatologist at Treichville hospital in Abidjan.

These powerful anti-inflammatories generate “skin depigmentation when used for a long time and in high doses”but they can also cause diabetes or hypertension, he details.

Health risks

Wealthier women resort to injections based on glutathione, a natural antioxidant prescribed for patients with cancer or Parkinson’s disease, notes Grace Nkoro, a dermatologist at the gynecological-obstetric hospital in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Nkoro treated several patients with skin problems or who developed kidney failure after “buying these injections on the internet.”

The same can be said of Kourouma, in Abidjan, who describes “young, educated women, between 25 and 30 years old” that these substances are injected “every week, sometimes every other day”, without knowing precisely its composition.

They present “skin pathologies such as acne or black spots that are very difficult to treat”details.

In Ghana, authorities issued an alert in October 2021. Glutathione injections “pose a health risk, with toxic side effects on the liver, kidneys and nervous system”and that can cause “Stevens Johnson syndrome” (skin rot).

Another danger is injections, often carried out by saleswomen on the street or in the back of a store and with the risk of possible transmission of infections, including hepatitis and HIV.

While Ivorian authorities issued a decree in 2015 banning certain whitening products, such as corticosteroid derivatives, other glutathione derivatives are not on the list.

These products remain widely accessible in markets and on the internet. AFP was able to obtain them by contacting a seller of glutathione injections on social networks.

Purchased in Abidjan in a batch of 16 bottles for $125, the product suggests the presence of glutathione due to its name (“Glutax 7000000 GM”).

The samples sent to Paris for analysis in the toxicology laboratory of the Lariboisière hospital only showed the presence of vitamins, proteins and sugar, but no glutathione.

Colonial aesthetic norms

Faced with what appears to be a scam, AFP searched for the manufacturer. On its website, Dermedical Skin Sciences claims to have a laboratory in Italy. At the address indicated in Milan, Google Maps locates a golf course and a municipal swimming pool.

The telephone call, to a Genoa prefix – 150 km away – was answered by a female voice who claimed to be a simple private individual.

There is no company registered under the name ““Dermedical Skin Sciences” in the Italian commercial register.

Contacted by AFP, an Ivorian merchant who sells the same “Glutax” brand product claimed to have entered into a relationship with a “wholesaler in Manila,” the capital of the Philippines, very far from Italy.

On Google Maps, a company “Glutax” appears in Manila and accumulates more than 120 customer opinions.

That country is home to a large number of wholesalers and resellers that mainly supply African markets, although with glutathione-based injectable products that are prohibited in the Philippines.

Despite scams, bans and health risks, many women in Asia and Africa resort to these injections “whitening”, that respond to aesthetic standards “inherited from the colonial period”, analyzes the researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute, Shingirai Mtero.

The WHO estimates that skin bleaching, despite warnings, is widespread in Africa, affecting up to three-quarters of Nigeria’s population.

“African countries emerged from colonization, but they did not emancipate themselves from the prejudices that were imposed on them,” Mtero stands out.