Skin whitening is nothing new since ever though techniques, technology and today’s perception has changed since centuries. There are numerous skin bleaching and whitening techniques and various food ingredients, recipes and other natural techniques. Science and technology have in between helped since about thirty years to provide real skin whitening techniques.
You might be lost as there are so many techniques and so many comments with pros and cons. In addition, most Governments post reminders and warning about the danger of some chemical products sold directly as bleaching products and included in creams, soaps and even in some devices.
Dermatologist don’t help neither as most of them think this is a comfort procedure that they shall not treat for various reasons.
We think that it is worth mentioning the various techniques that skin whitening market provides and try focus on what work, what is dangerous from chemical techniques to skin whitening treatment provided at home.
The first one is the one that could be named « natural » with what most people are trying since ever. It has not to be confused with natural products or natural supplements to be taken as real treatments and often combined with other supplements.
These are the most popular skin whitening techniques:
1. Skin whitening recipes and natural food.
2. Dermabrasion
3. Skin whitening using lasers
4. Skin whitening treatment using bleaching products
5. Chemical peeling
6. Branded and dedicated products
7. Skin whitening injections
8. Skin whitening treatment plans at home?
You will find hundreds of natural recipes. Some are made of natural products to be eaten, drunk, others to be mixed and used as creams most of the time.
Usually most of them don’t “hurt” and have no negative effects. If it seems they don’t or won’t hurt on one hand it is worth trying but on the other hand it means it has very poor effect and so, is it really worth trying?
At the end of the day, we have noticed that most skin whitening candidates choose to switch to another solution once they have tried to eat, to prepare various recipes and or apply homemade creams. Having made its own recipe or cream or buy them don’t change a lot.
Most of recipes are made of vegetables and fruits. It seems there is no real logic apart from the fact that vitamin C is present in some of them. Vitamin C is a key element for skin whitening treatment and melanin rate reduction.
It is only when combined with other elements that Vitamin C plays a role. The required daily dosage shall not be the one contained in one or two fruits only.
When envisaged with injections such as glutathione skin whitening injections, Vitamin C might be recommended and to be taken with injections.
In short as usual fruits and vegetable will not hurt but it is worth noting that as the skin whitening reduction process is rather complex, only a combination of different elements will work.
So, what are the other skin whitening methods that I shall use to have a fairer skin tone? In short, the different methods of skin whitening treatment shall be divided into two categories, the treatment that use chemical solutions and the ones that use natural elements.
Dermabrasion is provided by dermatologists or plastic surgeons most of the time. It is a very common procedure used daily by dermatologists to treat some skin problems such as skars, acne skars etc.
It is used for specific skin issues and requires a special instrument to “take out” the layer of your skin. Then you will have a new skin somehow reconstructed naturally.
It helps a lot for some specific problems related to scars. When it comes to moles, skin defects and other birthmarks it unfortunately does not work.
Microdermabrasion is also used to exfoliate the skin thanks to small instruments like crystals to treat age spots, brown spots etc. but will not help for moles or large spots.
As dermabrasion is used to take out the layer of your skin, if you have a dark skin, it turns quickly to be a potential discoloration issue.
Most dermatologist don’t treat non fair skin people with dermabrasion as you may have a color different where the treatment is provided.
In addition, dermatologist advise to anybody to avoid sun exposure after having skin dermabrasion. Having taken out a layer of your skin will make the new skin very sensitive, and it has to be fully “reconstructed”. Therefore, sun is prohibited.
All dermatologists and skin whitening treatment specialist agree to say that dermabrasion is not the right method to lighten your skin.
It is tempting to take out one’s layer of your skin to have a new fairer one but in no way, dermabrasion will help to whiten your skin.
Using laser is quite recent technique. Previously used for various conditions in dermatology, some expanded its use to skin whitening treatments.
This process is commonly used for treatments spots, dark spots, birthmarks, pigmentation areas, sun tanning.
Depending on the intensity of the light, type of laser beam, length of treatments and number of sessions the laser aims to clean and destroy the cells of the treated area. The laser using carbon uses the heat to destroy cells and melanin produced. The toning sessions require preparations about ten days before sessions. It has been done with an average of 8 sessions with maximum one session per week. In practice two maximum per month are more effective as skin needs to recover from the heat generated, burn feeling, need to wait that “new” layer be clean and disappear.
Each session needs a very strict hygiene in terms of preparation but mainly after each session. You shall be in the dark for the following day. You shall avoid sun exposure for one to 3 days minimum, avoids creams, make-up and even bathing.
There are pros and cons about using lasers as a method of skin whitening. All dermatologists will agree that it works well to treat local areas such as spot, birthmarks and in general hyper pigmentation. Some dermatologists say it works and shall be applied on whole the body, others say it shall be only used to treat specific areas.
In general, those who use the treatment say it works but it requires a rather high budget, a lot of patience and to be able to avoid seeing people for some time.
Others say it burns the skin and it is not worth in terms of results, pain and budget.
In general, we notice quite some good effects if the procedure is carefully done but maintenance is required and it not done for a life time. Therefore, it is not an easy and cheap solution on the long run. Then what are the other skin whitening techniques using chemicals?
Skin bleaching is a commonly used technique for skin whitening treatments. It is highly chemical and controversial as used, especially in West Africa, with different components, acids or other often forbidden components.
It is difficult to list all bleaching products as they are so many, and some are only mixture of different substances.
In general, these products have short terms effects and most of time nonproductive effects. It is often deemed to be a desperate solution and a cheap solution. Most products burn the skin causing invisible damage for the skin. This is not recommended at all and since 2018 several countries, especially in Africa, are banning and controlling some of them in open air markets, customes etc. We donnot recommend bleaching products for skin whitening.
Though it is classified as chemical solution, chemical peeling is a different solution when one wants skin whitening treatment than bleaching products.
Peeling is used as a cream or product to be applied on the skin directly in order to remove the skin layer and not envisage to « change » its pigmentation with acid or other chemical bleaching solutions.
As any daily « mask » or body cream you may use to peel your skin, peeling is one of the solutions to whiten your skin.
There are many different products to peel your skin, different brands and with different intensity.
Many are referred as peeling solutions and most branded products donnot mention « skin whitening » as there is no real product dedicated to that type of treatment.
Whitening your skin using peeling products will help to remove the layer of your skin but this is a very temporary solution. It will not affect your natural melanin rate. It last in most cases several days or several weeks.
As market evolves quickly it is difficult to list all products that may help for skin whitening. Some products are very different that mainstream ones that use anti oxydants. Some use well known branded products, others are unknown but most of the type like for hydroquinone it is impossible to classify them and only market will tell.
Many brands use the same components with variation such as green tea, some herbs etc.
It is now quite a common technique. The goal is to have an IV or intravenous injection up to 1200mg per week of glutathione or any so called whitening components. Most of the time it is glutathione.
How many injections do I need to whiten my skin?
An injection session lasts around 30 minutes and is called an infusion. You need the assistance of a nurse as done by IV. In some countries like US or Europe you even need a dermatologist prescription in order for a nurse to do the injection as dermatologist don’t do that themselves.
The thing is that since a couple of years now skin whitening injections are more and more difficult to find. If you refer to our post skin whitening treatments at home you will note that for the great majority, dermatologists are very reluctant to treat “skin whitening” as skin procedure. For them it is often deemed to be a comfort treatment or “plastic surgery” procedure that has nothing to do with their very job besides the fact that there is no real scientific background.
In addition compliance may be an issue in some countries where some products are banned as there is no real control over some components. At last the time needed for skin whitening injections is often a friction for skin whitening candidates.
It is advised to have a limited amount of skin whitening products injection per week. If it is glutathione the recommended dosage is 1200mg per week. It has to be injected by IV once or twice per week.
In addition some other products may need to be injected such as vitamins like vitamin C or Cinderella in order to have the right combination to whiten your skin.
One of these components alone does not produce real effects.
If you are limited by the weekly dosage, according to your skin type you need several sessions and so in average needs a minimum 6 weeks treatments and up to 12 weeks treatments.
As most skin whitening candidates cannot find easily skin whitening clinics (not in India or the Philippines for instance) they have to envisage to travel for that.
As the average cost is around 250$ per session in Turkey, around India or in the Caribbean Islands for instance you need to envisage at least one session per week. With the flight and accommodation, most of our files amount to several thousand dollars easily.
One has to understand that skin whitening is a non academic type of treatment.It is not part of the academic dermatology studies for dermatologits. Dermatologists only focus to hyperpigmentation and for then skin whitening is often deemed to be a sort of comfort treatment and outside their expertise field. Most dermatologists are not trained for skin whitening, especially in USA or Europe and therefore one will not be able to get a propoper skin whitening consultation or skin whitening prescription.
The only way is therefore to do it remote at home when non available in clinic provided it is legally compliant and safe.
Antioxyant benefits are numerous from immune system boost to skin purification and many user use tablets and sometimes injections for many purposes and not skin whitening.
On the other hand concerns are not on the fact that antioxydant injections are natural supplements and not medicine but its dosage and potential effects. It is not suitable to pregnant women and those that have liver problems. The disavantage often read is that a high dosage may lead to disruptions in the body's natural antioxidant balance or kidney issue. Therefore you shall always check the quantity used and plan a treatment plan for a couple of weeks with long breaks and not do it on a weekly basis like some Bollywood stars.
These injections are popular because it has a high absorption rate in the body. Going directly into the blood stream the rate is rather high though it depends of many factors such as your life’s style.
The downside of skin whitening injections is that it is not convenient to be administered in addition to the fact that it is almost impossible to be provided in some countries.
Almost all dermatologists in the US or Europe will not want to be involved in skin whitening injections and without prescriptions you will not be able to get the injections easily. Though you can find skin whitening injections products online you need to be accustomed to them and have the right medical background or follow-up from a nurse to inject them.
Ordered online it will be cheaper and easier to inject them provided you are backed by medical services providers.
This is a very recurring question as most want something simple and to be outside of the medical world.
Others want to avoid many sessions, make it a try and donnot want to spend a lot.
It was calculated that an average skin whitening injection process done at home compared to the one done in clinics save in average 1800/2400 $ provided the clinic is not nearby. In the case you can easily go to a clinic near your home you save in average 500/700 $ if done at home.
Others think it is worth being done in clinics. It makes sense as sometimes you need some backup of a general practitioner to know what to do or not to do. The thing is that you have first to find one or a dermatologist that will agree to do it for you. Provided he or she will do it, they are not trained for that and are not in practice able to recommend a product or a technique. It is then almost impossible to find a dermatologist in Europe for instance that will give you a prescription to have x skin whitening injections. The simple fact that they cannot measure your exact skin type (it is very difficult as you would need a sort of photometry device done in a dedicated laboratory) and easily understand your goal (that is by definition very subjective) does not help.
Therefore the only practical solution is do have skin whitening treatments at home.
Skin whitening treatments at home refers to the products you can find in clinics to be administered yourself without the help of a Doctor and that are not drugs.
You will note that so far there is no drug referring as skin whitening drug. In itself skin whitening being not a disorder there is no drug to cure it.
Therefore you can order skin whitening natural supplements combinations or clinic skin whitening injections products (under the supervision of a medical specialist).
You can find online numerous skin whitening products but what matters is to have the right treatment plan with the right follow-up for the rights products.
We would advise to refer to skin whitening treatment solutions at home to understand the various FAQ and explanations about the pros and cons about it.
You can find many products online in large mainstream e-commerce websites or beauty websites including skin whitening products among their skin products but what matters is to be advised to find the right skin whitening treatment plan that will work for you as we do it every day of the year.
The subject of skin whitening in general is not strictly speaking a scientific subject. It is not a medical procedure or even a disease studied by dermatologists, so even though it potentially affects several hundred million people on earth, it is a subject that is personal to you and we are here to help.
Skin whitening tablets and laser treatments are two distinct approaches to altering skin pigmentation, but they differ significantly in terms of how they work, their mechanisms, and the outcomes they aim to achieve:
Skin Whitening Tablets:
Method: These tablets or oral supplements contain various ingredients like glutathione, vitamins (C, E), antioxidants, and other compounds believed to contribute to skin lightening.
Function: They work internally by affecting melanin production or acting as antioxidants to potentially lighten the skin over time. They're typically taken orally and work systemically throughout the body.
Results: Changes in skin tone, if any, are gradual and may take several weeks or months of consistent use to show noticeable effects.
Safety: Safety and efficacy are debated, with limited scientific evidence supporting their effectiveness. Risks associated with overuse or inappropriate dosages should be considered.
Laser Treatment for Skin Whitening:
Method: Laser treatments for skin whitening involve the use of specialized lasers that target melanin-producing cells (melanocytes) or pigmented areas in the skin.
Function: The laser energy is absorbed by melanin, breaking it down or reducing its concentration in targeted areas, leading to a lightening effect.
Results: Results can be more immediate and noticeable compared to oral supplements. Multiple sessions might be needed for optimal results, and the outcomes can vary based on the individual's skin type and condition.
Safety: Laser treatments should be administered by trained professionals to minimize risks such as burns, hyperpigmentation, or hypopigmentation. Post-treatment care is crucial to prevent adverse effects.
Effectiveness: Laser treatments can offer more immediate and noticeable results compared to the gradual effects of oral supplements.
Safety: Both approaches have associated risks. Laser treatments, if not performed correctly, can cause adverse effects, while long-term effects of oral supplements are not extensively studied.
Mechanism: Skin whitening tablets work internally, while laser treatments target specific areas externally.
Skin whitening injections when compared to skin laser treatments show that these are two distinct methods aimed at altering skin pigmentation, but they differ significantly in how they work, the targeted areas, and the mechanisms they employ:
Skin Whitening Injections:
Method: These injections usually contain high doses of substances like glutathione, vitamin C, and other ingredients believed to affect melanin production or have antioxidant properties.
Function: Administered intravenously or intramuscularly, these injections aim to increase glutathione levels in the body, potentially reducing melanin production and leading to a lighter skin tone over time.
Results: Changes are often gradual and may require multiple sessions. The degree of effectiveness varies among individuals, and visible results might take several weeks or months to appear.
Safety: Safety concerns exist regarding the use of high doses of certain substances and the potential for adverse effects. Risks should be carefully evaluated, and administration should be overseen by a healthcare professional.
Skin Laser Treatment:
Method: Laser treatments for skin lightening involve using specific wavelengths of light to target melanin in the skin. Different types of lasers can target various pigment concerns.
Function: The laser energy is absorbed by the melanin in the skin, breaking down or reducing pigmentation in targeted areas. It can address issues like hyperpigmentation, age spots, or uneven skin tone.
Results: Laser treatments often yield more immediate and visible results compared to injections. However, multiple sessions might be required for optimal outcomes, and the degree of improvement can vary based on the individual's skin condition.
Safety: Laser treatments should be performed by trained professionals to minimize risks, including burns, hyperpigmentation, or hypopigmentation. Post-treatment care is crucial to prevent adverse effects.
Key Considerations:
Mechanism: Injections work internally by altering biochemical processes, while laser treatments target specific areas externally using focused light energy.
Speed of Results: Laser treatments typically yield more immediate and visible results compared to the gradual effects of injections.
Safety: Both methods carry risks, and the choice should be made after careful consideration of potential adverse effects and their likelihood based on individual factors.
Skin whitening injection is the most demanded product in skin whitening category. It is possible to buy skin whitening injections online just as you can find oral skin whitening supplements or skin whitening tablets that can be purchased online. This is part of the new trend of being able to whiten your skin at home when this is not or no longer possible in clinics.
Unlike tablets, injections are more difficult to administer and depend on local regulations or clinic practices. In general, one or two injections of 1200ml of glutathione are recommended each week depending on the skin phototype.
You can find whitening injections in France, skin whitening injections in Germany, skin whitening injections in the United Kingdom, skin whitening injections in Europe.
This falls into the category of skin whitening treatments in France, skin whitening in Germany, skin whitening in the USA, skin whitening in the UK, skin whitening in Italy, skin whitening found in Spain or also skin whitening in high demand in Turkey or skin whitening solutions in Portugal.
April 2024 update