Is a pill the secret to lighter skin?

A lot has been written about skin lightening. And despite several movements across the globe to make women embrace and celebrate their natural skin colour, the desire for a lighter tone has still prevailed. This has been further brought about with several darker skinned celebrities both in Hollywood and Bollywood, rumoured to have undergone skin lightening treatments. In fact, even star kids waiting to make their debut are said to have joined the bandwagon. Aside from fairness creams that have been in the market for aeons, and specialised laser treatments,  Glutathione pills when taken regularly for a few months are said to deliver quick and good results, giving a significant difference in skin tone. After Hrs speaks to skin experts to find out if a pill can really make a difference.

Not a miracle drug

Dr Abhijit Desai, cosmetic dermatologist, Skin Sense clinic, explains, “Oral glutathione is used for skin lightening, and to reduce pigmentation or to treat uneven pigmentation would be a better way to describe it. Promoting fairness would be unfair. Glutathione is an antioxidant and has been used for its antioxidant properties for long time in allopathic medicine. The use in the aesthetic industry has been recent. Intravenous use of glutathione has not been approved by US FDA and ideally should not be administered by that route. Also, let’s not jump to conclusions that glutathione is a miracle drug for skin lightening. It has to be used with other important other approaches like sun protection, laser treatment, vitamin C to show good results. I don’t know if the reports of skin becoming 10 times lighter are true as no scientific papers are published to prove it. Also, personally as a dermatologist I don’t promote fairness treatments and feel actors and actresses or prominent personalities should refrain from doing them.”

Can pose safety issues

Dr Shrilata Suresh Trasi, dermatologist and cosmetologist, La Piel  Skin Care Clinic says, “Everyone is born with a particular skin colour. But this colour darkens as we age due to tanning, allergic reactions etc. However, we can get back our original skin colour by various treatments like chemical peels, retinoid based leave-on peels and advanced lasers. Glutathione pills to some extent do help as direct inactivation of tyrosinase (a key enzyme of melanogenesis — Melanin synthesis) but the results are continued only upon continued therapy with same. But the safety data is questionable as there are only a few clinical papers on this. Some of the papers published in IJDVl (Indian Journal of Dermatlogy, Venereology and Leprology) quotes the following — increased susceptibility to melanoma. Theoretically, long-term administration of systemic glutathione switches eumelanin to pheomelanin, and may increase susceptibility towards development of melanoma in the long run. Hypopigmented patches, have been observed after 10–12 doses of intravenous injection by practitioners (unpublished observations). The Q-switched Nd YAG lasers are one of the best options for skin lightening.”

Side effects are possible

Skin colour is of two types — constitutive which is genetically determined, and facultative which is due to the environmental factors like sun exposure. To some extent the facultative skin tone can be changed but it’s always temporary, says Dr Sharmila Patil, consultant dermatologist, Fortis, Mulund. “Glutathione can make the skin few shades lighter. A host of topical skin lightening agents are available, but systemic skin whitening agents are growing in popularity. They do not have much scientific evidence to their credit yet.

Oral glutathione is “generally regarded as safe” category of FDA  and usually marketed as food or dietary supplement. More side effects are seen in injectable glutathione ranging from skin rash to fatal reactions like Steven Johnson syndrome has been reported with the drug. Apart from the side effects, the incorrect injection technique from untrained staff can cause lethal complications like air embolism. I first try and rule out any systemic cause of skin darkening and investigate the patient according to his history, as low levels of certain vitamins can also cause skin darkening. If no systemic cause is found then patients are counselled for chemical peels, depigmenting creams with/without supplements with antioxidant properties,” she adds.