Hydroquinone Cream - What Do You Need To Know

Lately, there has been much talk about the carcinogenic property of hydroquinone cream, but because tracing the root cause of cancer cases is a difficult thing to do, no one has any conclusive proof that hydroquinone indeed causes the disease.

The tests conducted with hydroquinone – please take note – were not done with hydroquinone cream but with the pure substance.

Studies have shown that test populations which were unexposed to the substance registered cases of cancer while groups exposed to it did not.

Furthermore, an investigation involving people who worked in a lithographic company - where hydroquinone is used in some phases of production - also disproves that hydroquinone predisposes anyone to cancer. In this latter case, of the five people in that group who developed the disease, only two had been exposed to the substance.

Another study involved a group of people engaged in the production of hydroquinone and other groups who are not exposed to the substance at work. Results showed a higher instance of cancer in the controls groups rather than in the main subject of the study.

As far as tests on rodents are concerned, there are two typical conditions that make such tests practically irrelevant for gauging the toxicity of hydroquinone for humans. First of all, rodents are usually made to ingest the substance. The usual way in which humans can absorb hydroquinone is through the pores of the skin on the face. An experiment which requires the subjects to take hydroquinone orally does not parallel the typical situation for humans.

Second, they are given 50 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. If that proportion of hydroquinone per body weight were to be administered to a person weighing 68 kg., he would have to be given 3 grams of the pure substance orally, an amount which is astronomically bigger than the hydroquinone that can be absorbed from a small bottle of whitening cream with one application.

Administered in 3 grams, hydroquinone will indeed be, not only toxic, but lethal. We must remember that it is also poisonous.

Om the other hand, remember that the amount of hydroquinone used for cosmetics is about 2 – 3 % of the weight of the contents of the bottle. If the contents weight 20 grams in all, the amount of hydroquinone in that bottle would be less than half a gram. And people don’t generally use up all the whitening cream in one application. Neither do they normally eat it.

Studies have only served to deny the carcinogenic character of hydroquinone, likewise experience seems to indicate – judging from the many people who are still using it today – that it does not predispose to cancer at all.

Excessive use of anything usually leads to trouble. If there are indeed, hydroquinone cream-related cases of cancer, the persons affected must have over-used the substance or had open wounds on their skin which allowed direct access to the blood. Whatever the case, people who are using hydroquinone creams and lotions should carefully read and religiously follow the instructions for use and dosage, as indicated in the accompanying guide or package. That is the best way not to provoke any of its hypothetical carcinogenic effects.