Abstract
Children's exposure to mercurial skin lightening agents at any time during their development, from intra-uterine to early developmental life, can lead to severe detrimental health effects. This is because these skin lightening agents contain inorganic mercury as their active ingredient at varying concentrations that exceed acceptable levels. Mercury does not confer any physiological benefit to the human body, and as such, it has only been linked to numerous adverse effects on users and may pose a possible health risk for children born to, living with, and in contact with skin bleaching agent users. Although studies have shown that inorganic mercury exposure may be detrimental to children, there is a paucity of data, to the best of our knowledge, on reviews exploring specifically the possible routes of exposure to and effects of mercurial skin lightening agents on children. Since prevention is the only key to reducing mercury poisoning and toxicity, this study aims to extensively review the literature on prenatal and postnatal exposure to mercury in children from cosmetic skin lightening agents and discuss possible detrimental effects.
Highlights
Skin bleaching refers to the process of removing pigment from an individual's skin.[1]
Mercury is not always listed as an ingredient in these cosmetics, which may contribute to undiscovered cases of exposure.[8,21]
Cream formulations were found to have the highest concentrations of mercury, and the common practice of mixing different brands in an attempt to increase their potency was shown to increase the likelihood of exposure to very high levels of mercury.[8]
Summary
Skin bleaching refers to the process of removing pigment from an individual's skin.[1]. 6 Despite the reversibility of the skin lightening effect, some adverse systemic effects of these agents may persist even after their use is stopped due to the accumulation of harmful components in the user's tissues. Inorganic mercury is the active agent found in mercurial skin lightening agents.[10] It replaces copper necessary for tyrosinase enzyme activity, inhibiting the synthesis of melanin.[10] Human skin is highly permeable to this form of mercury, absorbing 0.8% to 3.7% of the dose applied.[11] Once absorbed into the bloodstream, inorganic mercury is transported to various organs such as the liver, ovaries, and kidneys of an individual where, after chronic use, it accumulates and can cause tissue injury and organ dysfunction.[6, 12]
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