The Dangerous Popularity of Skin Whitening Products in Nigeria
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Today on State of the World, the dangerous popularity of skin whitening products in Nigeria.

You're listening to State of the World from NPR, where the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. Skin whitening is a major industry in many parts of the world. But women in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, have a particular fondness for creams and lotions that promise to lighten the color of their skin.

It's a practice that's rooted in colonial-era beauty standards, valuing lighter skin tones over darker. But the effects of these products can be severe, and many people who use them are unable to stop. In Nigeria, NPR's Emmanuel Akinwotu takes a look at this popular but dangerous industry.

Susan Anderson is a 52-year-old store assistant. We met in the waiting room of a dermatology clinic in the capital Abuja. Parts of her face looked seared with burns. Thick dark patches of skin surrounded her eyes and covered her cheeks.

Anderson started using skin whitening creams as a child, given to her by her stepmother. I think at the age of 12, she never explained to me. I just felt it was a normal cream and I was using them. I was naive and I was vulnerable. When she was 15, a school friend recommended a stronger product used as a body lotion. Within one week, I started seeing changes. I started becoming more fairer than I was before.

And how did it make you feel? I felt happy. I felt I was looking more beautiful. Compliments would make me want to do more, to make myself more beautiful.

And I didn't know the effects of those creams at that time. Until it nearly killed her when she became pregnant. It was during delivery I had a terrible cut. She had a vaginal tear that doctors struggled to treat because the whitening creams had eroded layers of her skin. They sewed it but the stitches were not holding. I almost died at that point. And it took over a year for her to recover.

Skin whitening or skin bleaching is a major industry around the world, but especially in Nigeria. More than 77% of Nigerian women have used skin whitening products, according to the UN, the highest rate in Africa.

One of the major markets in the country is the populous northern city of Karnu. At the Sabongeri market are several small stores covered in posters and images of white and Arab women which sell an array of skin whitening products. Mirror white whitening lotion, skin beauty wipes.

So white, so beautiful. Quick action. Rapid white. One of the store owners is 29-year-old Shafari Mansour. Some people say they want bath salts. Some people say they want shower gel. Anyone you want, we can do it for you. He says most customers are interested in whitening creams and soaps, but some want other types of products too. Injection, like this one.

He shows me a box of small, clear capsules of hyaluronic acid and hexapeptide used for injection. He says he doesn't administer them himself. But to me, I'm not doing it. It's not good. Instead, he says, he uses the serums to mix bespoke creams and soaps for customers. Traders like Shafari mix a cocktail of various whitening products with self-made solutions, stirring them in plastic bowls in their stores.

But there's a catch with all whitening products, he says. They only work if you keep using them. He said God created you black.

And no one can change it. So when you stop, your skin reverts back within weeks, but with damage. People that bleach their skin is like an addiction. Zaina Bashir is Susan Anderson's doctor in Abuja. She founded DermaRx, a dermatology clinic.

She said there is very little regulation of skin whitening products. Anyone can literally walk into a pharmacy, buy it without any prescription and use it for as long as they want. The products have been linked to higher rates of skin cancer and Nigeria's government said it was considering new regulations on skin whitening products. After her medical scare, Susan Anderson briefly stopped using the whitening creams.

But then she started again. It was actually very, very hard for me to stop using them. And continued for decades while battling severe reactions and burns. She felt more and more isolated as the side effects worsened. I couldn't get a job. And I also lost a man whom I was dating that I was supposed to get married to.

Because he said he cannot present me to his family. She eventually found work as a store assistant. And during one of her shifts last year, she met Zainab Bashir, who brought Anderson to her clinic. She said I shouldn't worry that she's going to help me out. And I was really very grateful to her. And after losing hope, she finally found the help she needed. Emmanuel Akinwotu, NPR News, Abuja, and Karni. That's the state of the world from NPR.

Thanks for listening.

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