Beauty Products

Looking good these days may involve more than a trip to the hairdressers, a long soak in the bath and a visit to the beauty parlour for a facial. For increasing numbers of women it means undergoing a great deal of pain as the result of the cutting and/or piercing of various body parts, the partial or complete removal of hair from their genitals, followed by the display of increasing amount of flesh including the breasts, stomach and buttocks.

She's clear-skinned and pretty, and all because of Diane. That is the message to women conveyed in Schering's patient pamphlet for Diane, an acne treatment that also works as a contraceptive pill.
But in March the Ministry of Health's Medsafe revealed that the medication was not as benign as it had seemed. New research had confirmed that Diane, and its generic sister, Estelle (both containing the anti-androgen cyproterone), increased the risk of blood clots in users even more than third generation oral contraceptives. The risk is still small, but it's a risk that women need not take unless they need treatment for severe acne or another androgen-related disorder...Read More

June 1998 Women's Health Watch
The US Food and Drug Administration warns users of skin peelers containing alpha hydroxy acids (fruit acids) that they can cause injuries such as skin burns. AHAs are used in cosmetics and by beauty therapists and dermatologists to 'rejuvenate' skin. The FDA said that some products penetrate the skin too deeply, causing severe skin damage. In several cases, people have been hospitalised for severe burns, swelling and pain. A Californian woman suffered a seizure, shock and second degree burns after a mixture of skin peel chemicals was applied to her legs by a beautician.

Skin peeling products can vary considerably as to their ingredients and strengths. Also, skin reactions vary among individuals.

Skin peelers contain different combinations of several different acids such as lactic acid, phenol, resorcinol, trichloroacetic acid, salicylic acid and glycolic acid. They are usually applied to the skin for a short time each day, usually for six to 12 days. The skin reddens, as if it is sunburned, then peels away revealing what manufacturers call 'new skin'. The treatments can be painful and leave permanent scars.

Skin peeling treatments used only to be carried out by plastic surgeons and dermatologists but they are increasingly being used by non-medical people such as beauticians, some using newly mark-eted products. Many have inadequate instructions and none has been approved by the FDA as effective or safe.

Cosmetics can also contain AHAs despite unanswered questions about their safety. Recently a study sponsored by the cosmetic industry indicated that such products may make skin more sensitive to sunlight especially W radiation which is implicated in the development of skin cancer. The FDA recommends that users of cosmetics containing AHAs should protect themselves with sunblocks, even if they have not used an AHA-containing cosmetic on the day they are going into the sun. The FDA has received about 100 reports of adverse effects from AHA cosmetics, ranging from mild irritation and stinging to blisters and burns. The FDA advises that women test the product on a small area of skin before using it further, and that use should be stopped if there is skin irritation or prolonged stinging.
Ref: US FDA Backgrounder: 'Alpha Hydroxy Acids in Cosmetics' and 'Skin Peelers'

Packaging for the acne drug Roaccutane now contains warnings about depression in users. This follows
reports to Medwatch, the Food and Drug Administration's spontaneous warning system, of depressions and suicides of people on the drug. Since 1989 12 suicides in users of Roaccutane have been reported to the FDA. Patients reported that their depression lifted when they stopped taking the drug, but returned when they resumed use....Read More