There are fears some African refugee women may be turning to powerful steroid creams to lighten their skin.
Skin bleaching is a major concern for Monica Forson who is co-founder and president of the Afro-Australian Student Organisation and youth advisor to the Ghana Association of Australia.
Ms Forson said it was sad that people felt compelled to use skin lightening creams.
“I know my friends don’t necessarily skin bleach, but they have been pressured to do so by parents.”
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) skin lightening containing potentially toxic cortisone steroid is a global issue.
It said Nigeria had the biggest usage, with 77 per cent of women obtaining it.
The practice is also widespread in parts of south and central Asia.
Those toxic creams can cause dizziness, fatigue, and swelling of the face and abdomen, and in extreme cases it can cause kidney problems and diabetes.
There are safer, legal creams, which do not contain cortisone, but millions of women are risking the harmful ones, amid claims they are more powerful in lightening skin.
Skin bleaching cases in Hunter Valley
Concerns about the use of cortisone creams to lighten skin were first raised by Hunter Valley health officials in 2008, prompting an education campaign to assist the high number of African refugees in the Hunter Valley.
Newcastle dermatologist Dr Avland Amiri believes he has encountered cases of it in his practice.
He said he recently saw a woman with stretchmarks all over her body — a telltale sign of using the cream.
“She had a skin type 5, or dark skin, and she was referred to me by her GP because she started having multiple stretch marks on her body,” he said.
Top Comments
I have an auto immune condition called vitiligo where large patches of my skin are without pigment, so white. I met with bullying from Nuns in Catholic school, students and strangers. I understand the feeling of needing to fit in and be the same. Please treat us all with compasion, you need to walk a mile in in our shoes to have an idea of what a different skin colour can do to your life, cheers Vick.
On one hand we have pale people risking cancer and sun damage to darken their skin, and now we have dark people bleaching theirs to be lighter. If only we could appreciate what we have.