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What is Skin Whitening?

What is Skin Whitening?


Introduction Skin Whitening ingredients

1. 2. 3. 4. vitamin C, kojic acid melanostat arbutin

What is Skin Whitening?


Skin whitening or skin bleaching is a term used to refer to cosmetics used to whiten or bleach the skin. There are numerous products out there that promise an all natural skin whitening using harmless chemicals. Over the years mercury and hydroquinone were the main ingredients used to lighten skin. (But FDA

- banned when it was discovered that they can cause damage to body organs and can be very fatal)

skin whitening cream - has become very popular over the past few years. Initially skin whitening was introduced for the purpose of treating skin disorders such as pigmentation, freckles, pregnancy marks, and spots and so on. This trend however changed, when more and more dark skinned women started using these creams to achieve a lighter well even skin.

Skin Whitening ingredients

In most skin whitening creams TRYROSINASE inhibitors are used. They include
1. 2. 3. 4. vitamin C, kojic acid melanostat arbutin

Their main function is to inactivate TYROSINANSE, a type of enzyme that causes the skin to darken.

Vitamin C
Vitamin C plays numerous roles in the human health and among these are beautifying the skin. Vitamin C is increasingly being used in skin whitening cream today because it has ascorbic acid agent which has been proven to inhibit the production of melanin pigments and leading to lighter skin. In addition to this Vitamin C is an important requirement during collagen synthesis, a process that can slow down aging of the skin remarkably. Vitamin C will penetrate the kin and enhance the production of collagen. Some times more Vitamin C also helps in skin repair by spending up healing process during injuries.

Kojic Acid
Kojic acid is a type of metabolic product which limits the activity of tyrosianse, an enzyme necessary for the biosynthesis of melanin. Kojic acid increasingly popular ingredient in skin whitening creams.

Melanostat
Melanostat is still a new ingredient in skin whitening cream products which acts on tryosinase and melanin receptors. Melanostat is the only skin whitening ingredient that acts on melanin cells directly by deactivating melanogenesis a process that causes the skin to tan resulting in a much lighter skin.

Arbutin
Arbutin is an agent extracted from the bearberry plant through liquid extraction. It will protect the skin from free radicals that cause the skin to darken. It is one of the most popular agents used to treat skin pigmentation in Asian countries such as Japan. It works by inhibiting the production of melanin pigment through inhibition of tyrosinase activity. It is known to be one of the safest skin agents found in skin whitening cream.

Thank you!

By Prabhu Venugopal Jr. Research Scientist

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