It was only a matter of time that the reviews of the controversial cream “Whitenicious” would be made available to the public. Whitenicious was released by Cameroun personality, Dencia, this past January, and has received a lot of speculations that it may lead to skin cancer. Users of Whitencious who shared and documented their results took to http://www.skincaretalk.com to voice complaints about the cream causing headaches, pimples and unwanted facial hair.
Unwanted facial hair and headaches are well known side effects of topical steroid use. The damaging prolong effects of steroid use on human skin has been well documented by credible medical research agencies to include Harvard Medical School. Topical steroid crèmes are predominantly prescribed by dermatologists for the treatment of rash, eczema, and dermatitis. It is observed that one of the side-effects of steroid use is skin-lightening. However individual who abuse it simply for this purpose fail to understand that the lightening effect is temporary, as the user will eventually revert to their natural complexion after a few months of usage. The temporay skin lightening effect is as a result of vasoconstriction, that is, basically restricting blood flow to the vital organs. Prolong topical steroid has many well known adverse side-effects to include renal (kidney) failure and susceptibility to melanoma, which is the most dangerous form of cancer.
Members of skincaretalk have voiced that they will be conducting an independent laboratory test to verify if the cream does in fact contain steroids and any other banned harmful substances. This is a major public health concern. So much so that there is talk that NAFDAC (The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control) [of Nigeria] is in the preliminary stage of issuing a ban which will prevent the cream from being sold in Nigeria. NAFDAC has issued similar bans in the past and has had great success in implementing it. Individuals caught smuggling items that are banned by NAFDAC have been known to face huge penalties in the form of hefty fines.
It is clearly evident that Dencia herself did not use Whitencious to transform from her original dark chocolate complexion to her now pale white skin. Speculations are that she is receiving weekly glutathione injections to suppress the melanin formation in her body. It is reported that there are a number of glutathione clinics in Lagos, Nigeria as well as in other countries. Let us just hope that Dencia has not compromised the health of her customers by knowingly including harmful substances that can cause cancer and other serious ailments. It is in everyone’s innate nature to succeed and become a success story. However at what cost?