Makeup creams can cause kidney damage

Makeup creams can cause kidney damage

Many of us know that pain relievers such as ibuprofen, diclofenac, and naproxen can damage the kidneys. But we are not so aware of the fact that fairness creams can also affect the kidneys.

Anti-aging creams, skin whitening creams, soaps and lotions contain some amount of mercury. Mercury is the most commonly used skin lightening agent, it triggers the formation of melanin. Which lightens the skin tone. Many cosmetic brands are many times more than the allowed limit for quick results.

Mercury is a highly toxic substance, which damages the brain, nerves, heart, liver and kidneys and can cause cancer. This mercury is absorbed through the skin, enters the bloodstream and eventually accumulates in the major organs. Which damages the liver, lungs, heart, brain and kidneys. Absorption rate is 80 percent very high for normal skin.

Recently an incident happened in India. A young woman started using fairness cream. Within a month, her facial glow, skin tone, glow and fairness all improved significantly. Inspired by this, his mother and sisters also started using the cream, but after a few months the whole family started experiencing similar symptoms. Their blood tests showed kidney damage.

When the same fairness cream was tested, it was found that the mercury content was very high.

A similar incident was also reported in Malaysia in 2016. When they picked two different brands of fairness creams from the supermarket and crosschecked them. They found that the mercury content was very high. Various studies have already reported that fairness creams can cause glomerulonephritis, and some research has also shown that young patients have died suddenly due to high levels of mercury in their blood.

Millions of rupees are spent on importing these cosmetic products, but are our government and health authorities aware of the health hazards of these cosmetic products? Most of the fairness creams are imported from India, China, Thailand, Japan and Korea. These companies deliberately reduce the quality to sell at a cheaper price in developing countries. They know very well that we lack the necessary resources and laboratories to test these products. They even bribe the concerned authorities to get their products approved. No one has the right to play with our health.

Apart from these cosmetic products, the government should take initiative to check the quality of all medicines including painkillers, paracetamol, Ayurvedic medicines, antibiotics. They should allocate funds and train manpower for that. Since there is so much corruption in our country, do we expect a fair investigation? If no initiative is taken to control it now, the number of heart, kidney and liver cancer patients will increase several times within the next five years.

Drinking plenty of fluids is advised to prevent kidney damage from these products. But it cannot reduce the damage to the kidneys. It is better not to use the same brand of makeup for more than two months. Always read the label to determine the amount of hazardous substances used in these cosmetics, including mercury, cadmium, chromium, lead, arsenic, and hydroquinone. Get your kidneys checked at least once a year. If you have to wear make-up for events such as weddings, you should remove it as soon as possible after finishing work.