BENGALURU: Fair skin, that national obsession, is an expensive pursuit. Creams that promise a lighter tone can cost anywhere from a few hundreds to thousands. But there are cheaper options, steroid-based ones that cost less than Rs 100, and young adults like college goers are tempted to buy them.
In the short term, everything goes reasonably ‘fair’ and dandy and after 15 days, things take an alarming turn.
Geetha S (name changed) wanted to look ‘fair’ on her wedding day. She went to a beauty parlour for her clean-up facial and was recommended a fairness cream that promised results within days. After a month of using the product, her face was spotted with acne and she had grown a considerable amount of facial hair. She went to the same parlour and the staff there blamed her sensitive skin for this.
Geetha went to a dermatologist who informed that she had developed this because she had been using steroids on her face. “People use steroids on their face without knowing that they are using them, assuming they will get fairer and have a glowing skin,” says BS Chandrashekar, dermatologist from Bengaluru, who is also the recipient of Mysore University Golden Jubilee Medal for Dermatology. “But inappropriate use of steroids on the face will immediately cause side effects. It can increase acne and hair growth on the face, thin out the skin and cause stretch marks. It also increases the local susceptibility to infections and worsens some under lying skin problems,” he says.
False Notions
Steroids do not actually make you fairer, it gives you the illusion of a lighter tone. “Steroids narrow the blood vessels and cause blanching which gives a lighter tone initially,” says Chandrashekar. “It slows down the skin cell turnover, thereby thinning out the skin and reducing the pigment cell production.”
Steroid-based creams are wrongly prescribed for other skin conditions as well. Vani Rai (name changed) moved to the city last year. She was having her usual breakouts so her friend suggested using a cheaper face cream. Within a week, the pimples cleared but the spots returns in a month and they were back with a vengeance.
“My confidence dwindled and I stopped going out and socialising,” says 24-year-old Vani. She saw many dermatologists. “The first I went to see was the one near my house and he gave me oral medicines and sunscreen, but it did not work. Then I went to a few others but when I stopped using that face cream, it cleared by itself.”
Venkataram Mysore, a dermatologist who had been the head of Indian Association of Dermatologists and the Association of Cutaneus Surgeons India, says steroid-based creams are abused because people want quick results. “For ‘quick fixes’ they listen to friends, neighbours, advertisements and beauticians instead of qualified professionals,” says Dr. Venkataram.
Under Expert Advice
He says that steroids are very valuable drugs to dermatologists and is impossible to practise dermatology without them as the organic compound is used to treat various kinds of inflammation. “It is steroids in combination with other drugs that is actually harmful,” he says. “Steroids are being sold and bought over the counter like toothpaste.”
Dr Venkataram, along with other doctors, have been running a campaign for three years to stop the misuse of steroids. He says that so far they have seen a fair amount of success because some of the steroid-combinations were recently banned and listed under Schedule H, which means it can only be bought with a prescription from a registered medical practitioner. “Only its implementation is pending,” he says.
To Fight Acne and Stretchmarks
Steroid abuse is seen mainly in two age groups -15 to 23-year-olds to combat acne and to get a fairer skin and people between 35 and 45 years to rid themselves of pregnancy sideeffects such as pigmentation. Venkataram, who is also the current treasurer of Dermatologists and Aesthetic Surgeons International League, says that this trend is seen chiefly in India and to some extent seen in Africa and Brasil.
The abuse of steroids also leads to allergies and fungal infections.
“From 2003 to 2011, I used to see one to three patients, for such fungal infections... I see three or four in a day,” says Dr Venkataram.
Counselling may also be needed when a person is being treated for steroid abuse because it takes time to remove them from the body and people lose patience. Geetha S needed counselling because she felt she did not look “fair enough” for her wedding.