If you wish to whiten or lighten your skin pigmentations, freckles, age spots, acne marks, dark underarms, melasma, or your overall skin color, then this will be the most important article you will ever read.
Skin whitening, skin lightening, and skin bleaching are the practices of using chemical or natural substances to lighten skin tone or even an skin skin complexion by reducing the melanin concentration in the skin. Melanin is the pigment that gives human skin, hair, and eyes their color. Melanin is produced by cells called melanocytes. It provides some protection against skin damage from the sun, and the melanocytes increase their production of melanin in response to sun exposure.
By using skin lightening techniques, specific zones of abnormally high pigmentation such as freckles, moles and birthmarks may be depigmented to match the surrounding skin. And, in cases of vitiligo, unaffected skin may be lightened to achieve a more uniform appearance.
Most skin-lightening treatments, which can reduce or block some amount of melanin production, are aimed at inhibiting tyrosinase. Tyrosinase is an oxidizing enzyme, occurring in plant and animal tissues, that accelerates the oxidation of tyrosine into melanin and other pigments. Inhibiting tyrosinase activity reduces the synthesis of melanin so that as existing skin cells are naturally exfoliated keratinocytes with less melanin are actually brought to the surface, giving the skin a lighter, more even toned complexion.
There is some controversial and negative health effects to skin whitening products. There's evidence to suggest that some types of skin-whitening products use active ingredients (such as mercurous chloride) and hydroquinone which can be harmful; however, 2012 sales of skin lightening creams in India alone totaled 258 tons and the global market for skin lighteners is planned to reach US $ 19.8 billion by 2018 based on sales growth primarily in the US, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. So, there is a huge market for skin whitening products.
Some natural sources for skin lightening are alternative lighteners derived from natural sources of hydroquinone. Pure forms of arbutin are considered more potent for affecting skin lightening. Arbutin is derived from the leaves of bearberry, cranberry, mulberry or blueberry shrubs, and also is present in most types of pears. It can have melanin-inhibiting properties. Arbutin and other plant extracts are considered safe alternatives to commonly used depigmentation agents to make the skin fairer. Medical studies have shown the efficiency of arbutin for skin lightening.
Be sure to research any product you use and use especially natural products that are 100% guaranteed!