Skin-whitening creams: worth the risk?

Abstract

Findings presented at the European Congress of Endocrinology earlier this year suggest that women who use high-strength corticosteroid creams to lighten their skin may be at risk of adrenal insufficiency. The study involved 90 Egyptian women. The investigators measured baseline cortisol levels for 45 women who had been using corticosteroid-containing creams for at least the previous 3 months and compared them with baseline levels for 45 women who did not use these products. Although overall there was no significant difference between the two groups, the subset of women who used more potent creams, or used the creams more frequently over large areas of their body, had significantly lower baseline cortisol levels than the women in the control group.