A 23-year-old woman suffered kidney poisoning after applying a whitening facial mask. How to determine whether there is mercury in cosmetics?

Audit expert: Zhang Yuhong

Chief Physician of the Department of Dermatology, Zhengzhou Central Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University Not long ago, I saw a news report online that a 23-year-old young woman had kidney poisoning after applying a whitening mask! After careful investigation, I found out that it was caused by excessive mercury content in the mask.

Source: Weibo screenshot

I wanted to whiten my skin, but I almost lost my life. It's scary to think about it. Why does excessive mercury in whitening masks hurt the kidneys? How can we whiten our skin scientifically and healthily? Today, I will talk to you about it.

Why does excessive mercury in whitening facial masks harm the kidneys?

First of all, why do businesses add mercury to whitening products? This is because mercury has an inhibitory effect on melanocytes in the skin, causing them to die. When there are fewer melanocytes, the skin will naturally become whiter.

However, mercury is a heavy metal that can damage the human nervous system, digestive system and kidneys. According to the "Cosmetic Safety Technical Specifications (2015 Edition)" issued by the State Food and Drug Administration, the mercury content in cosmetics cannot exceed 1 mg/kg, which is far from achieving a whitening effect.

Therefore, many unscrupulous merchants will add thousands or tens of thousands times more mercury than the prescribed amount into cosmetics in order to achieve a whitening effect.

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

The whitening masks used by consumers in the news are applied on the face. The large amount of mercury added illegally can be absorbed into the blood through the facial skin and enter the kidneys through the human circulatory system.

When a large amount of mercury enters the kidneys, it will first damage kidney cells. At the same time, the immune cells in the human body produce antibodies against mercury, and the resulting antigen-antibody mixture will be deposited in the kidneys, causing other kidney diseases. In the long run, severe cases will lead to kidney failure and uremia .

Seeing this, some friends may be worried, "I often apply whitening masks. Will I absorb too much mercury? How do I know if there is mercury in whitening products?"

How to determine whether there is mercury in whitening cosmetics?

In fact, mercury, as an illegal additive, generally does not appear on the outer packaging, and it is difficult for consumers to judge from the appearance.

However, China has now included cosmetics for whitening, freckle and acne removal into the category of special-purpose cosmetics for management. So, if you want to know whether the cosmetics you bought are regular, you only need to check the website of the "State Food and Drug Administration" to find out.

Pay special attention to those whitening products that are advertised to be effective quickly, take effect in three days, and have immediate effects. Consumers must be more careful. They are likely to contain banned substances to achieve the effect of rapid whitening. Do not ignore health risks for the sake of temporary beauty.

In addition, when purchasing whitening products, it is recommended to purchase them through formal channels. Do not go to some street shops, WeChat merchants in the circle of friends, etc. to buy products with unclear labels and no products. The "hot products" they promote may not even be able to undergo formal testing.

Generally speaking, the following information should be indicated on the outer packaging of regular cosmetics: name of the cosmetics, actual production and processing location, name and address of the producer, shelf life, net content, ingredient list, approval number or registration number, health license number and product standard number, other information required to be marked, etc.

How do whitening products achieve whitening?

Everyone loves beauty, and whitening is an everlasting topic. There are many regular whitening products on the market. How do these regular whitening products achieve whitening?

If you want to whiten your skin, you must first know why we become darker?

Human skin contains melanin, and when there is too much melanin, the skin will appear darker. Melanin is produced by tyrosinase, so if you want to whiten your skin, there are three ways to do it: inhibit tyrosinase from producing melanin, block the transport of melanin, and promote the metabolism of melanin.

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

Different methods require adding different chemicals to achieve the desired effect.

For example, to achieve whitening effect by inhibiting melanin synthesis , hydroquinone with a concentration of 2% was used in the early days. This compound can guide tyrosinase to combine with itself and process itself into melanin, but the result is of course nothing. The new skin of the human body cannot obtain melanin, and as the old keratin falls off, it will turn white.

But later studies found that the safety of hydroquinone is controversial and has significant side effects, so its use is currently banned. In my country, hydroquinone is used as a prescription drug and must be used under the guidance of a doctor.

At present, the additives that inhibit the synthesis of melanin mainly include arbutin, kojic acid, azelaic acid, phenylethyl resorcinol (commonly known as 377), etc. Their safety is more guaranteed, but it should be noted that arbutin and phenylethyl resorcinol have poor light stability and are recommended to be used at night.

In addition to this whitening method, there is also a way to achieve whitening effects by blocking the transport of melanin. Currently, common additives are niacinamide and retinoic acid; whitening effects are achieved by promoting the metabolism of melanin. Common additives include salicylic acid and fruit acid.

When buying whitening cosmetics, you can pay attention to whether the above substances are included in the ingredient list. If not, it means that the whitening effect of the product is really worrying.

Some friends may say that cosmetics are still unsafe. In addition to using whitening cosmetics, are there any other scientific whitening methods? Of course there are!

If you want to whiten your skin, you can start from the perspective of preventing darkening, which is "sun protection".

Source: pixabay

The ultraviolet rays in the sun can damage the skin, but at the same time they can also promote melanocytes to synthesize melanin to help the skin resist ultraviolet rays. Therefore, if we pay attention to "sun protection" and reduce ultraviolet rays from irradiating the skin, then melanocytes will not need to synthesize too much melanin, and the skin will not be easy to darken and will be easier to whiten.

In general, whitening is not something that can be achieved overnight. It is good to be whiter, but even if it is not white enough, it is good to be healthy. In daily life, we should pay more attention to the daily care of the skin, pay attention to hydration, moisturizing, and proper cleaning, so as to have healthy skin~