Bleaching remains Africa’s health headache

Despite massive campaigns against the practice, bleaching remains rampant in Africa, with some of the drivers being the desire to have fair skin and use it as a weapon of seduction

Part of Prof. Moussa Diallo’s presentation on bleaching

Despite massive campaigns against the practice, bleaching (the practice of lightening the skin for cosmetic purposes by regular and chronic use of chemicals) remains rampant in Africa, with some of the drivers being the desire to have fair skin, use it as a weapon of seduction, and look like stars and artists.

Prof. Moussa Diallo, a dermatologist from Senegal, disclosed this recently during the Harm Reduction Exchange Virtual organized Integra Africa, in collaboration with Phillip Morris International.

The drivers of the practice, according to Prof. Diallo, include society's criterion of beauty: to have fair skin, the weapon of seduction, and to look like stars and artists (media role)

Prof. Diallo said the practice remains “a real social phenomenon in black Africa where the phenomenon is known under different vernacular names: – “Xessal” in Senegal, – “Tcha tcho” in Mali, – “Ambi” in Gabon, – “Makeup” in Congo and Cameroon – “Taftih elbachara” Magreb.”

According to Prof. Diallo, the problem cuts across all the social strata, with the educated comprising 49 percent of users of various bleaching products, followed by singles, who make up 39 percent.

He said some of the bleaching products include strong topical corticosteroids, hydroquinone, mercurial products, oxidants, glutathione.

Prof. Diallo warns that the bleaching products are causing cancer of the skin, and serious infections like hospitalization in all dermatology services in Sub-Saharan Africa.

However, he said there has been a campaign at all levels of the organization of society to dissuade young girls and women from practicing bleaching, and raise public awareness of the harmful effects of the practice.

The other form of the campaign has been providing positive messages on the virtues of black skin, as a symbol of his African identity.

Prof. Diallo said right now new control strategies, including the use of alternative products, are being employed to curb the practice as well as reduce the effects of the harmful products.

Some of the alternative products, according to Prof. Diallo, are natural products of plant origin (fruit acids), Vit A, C, E, PP, Glycolic Acid Depiwhite, and Topicrem Mela.