The global skin-lightening industry generates billions of dollars annually by exploiting insecurities rooted in centuries of colonial conditioning, creating a toxic legacy of skin bleaching that ...

Skin bleaching is a method of lightening skin by using products that reduce melanin production, a pigment that makes skin dark. Skin bleaching typically involves using skin-lightening creams to ...

Many bleaching creams contain harmful chemicals like steroids, which can lead to skin thinning and other long-term health issues. [Courtesy] Every time Caroline* (not her real name) looked in the ...

Susan Anderson, age 52, sits in the corner of a sunlit waiting room at a dermatology clinic in Nigeria's capital, Abuja. Dark patches of skin, dotted with brighter pigments, surround her eyes and ...

Every time Caroline* looked at herself in the mirror, she felt a sense of dissatisfaction. Each selfie she took was altered with filters that made her appear lighter than she truly was. One day, as ...

Skin whitening is a major industry around the world, including in the U.S., but it is endemic in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country. It's rooted in colonial-era beauty standards that see brighter ...

RECENTLY, the Nigerian Association of Dermatologists (NAD) launched a nationwide campaign to address growing public health concerns about skin bleaching in the country. The association unveiled the ...