“I gathered my six children”

The mother in the north of Nigeria is obviously upset when she grabs a two -year -old child who has burns and discoloration on her face and legs.

The 32-year-old guy used products that cancel the skin on all six of his children, under the pressure of his family, with the results she is now deeply regretted.

Fatima, whose name was changed to protect her family identity, says one of her daughters covers her face every time she goes out to hide her burns.

The other remained with darker skin than before – with a pale circle around the eyes, while the third has a whitish scar on the lips and knees.

Her baby still cries the wounds – his skin takes a long time to heal.

“My sister gave birth to bright children, but my kids are darker. I noticed that my mother contributes to my sister’s children because of their skin tone, and it was very damaged by my feelings,” Fatima says.

She says she used the creams she bought in her local supermarket in the city of Cano, without a doctor’s prescription.

At first it seemed to work. The grandmother warmed up to the children of Fatima, who at the time older two to 16 years old.

But then burns and scars appeared.

Skin or lighting, also known as bleaching in Nigeria, is used in different parts of the world for cosmetic reasons, although they often have deep cultural roots.

Women in Nigeria use skin removal products more than any other African country – 77% regularly use them, according to the United Nations Health Organization (WHO).

In the Congo-Crazovile, the figure is 66%, 50%Senegal and Ghana 39%.

Creams may contain corticosteroids or hydrochinone, which can be detrimental when used in large quantities, and in many countries it is only possible to get a doctor’s recipe.

Other ingredients that are sometimes used are poisonous metal, mercury and codinal acid – a by -product from the production of Japanese alcoholic beverage, lake.

Possible consequences of dermatitis, acne and skin, as well as inflammatory disorders, mercury poisoning and kidney damage.

The skin can become thinner, causing the wounds to take longer, and most likely to become infected, who says.

The situation is so bad that the National Nigeria Agency on food and medicines and control (NAFDAC) has declared a state of emergency in 2023.

It also becomes more common for women to whiten their children, as Fatima did.

“A lot of people associate light skin with beauty or wealth. Women are usually protected, as they call, their children from this discrimination, whitening them from childbirth,” – says BBC Zainab Bashir Yau, the owner of the Dermatology SPA in the capital, Abuja.

It is estimated that the 80% of the women she meets whiten their children or plan to do it.

Some of them were whitening as babies, she says, so they just continue their practice.

One of the most common ways to say whether anyone is used products that cancel the skin in Nigeria is the darkness of their joints. Other parts of the hands and feet of people become lighter, but the bones tend to remain dark.

However, smokers and drug consumers also sometimes have dark spots on the hands of smoke.

Thus, the users of the products that illuminate the skin are sometimes mistaken that they belong to this group.

Fatima says it happened with her daughters, aged 16 and 14.

“They have faced discrimination against society – they all point their fingers and call them addicts. It has greatly influenced them,” she says.

Both of them lost potential bridegroom because men do not want to contact women who are believed to take drugs.

I visited the popular market in Cano, where people who call themselves “mixologists” create creams that remove the skin from scratch.

There are a number of stores on the market where thousands of these creams are sold.

Some mixed varieties are placed on the shelves, but customers can also choose the unprocessed ingredients and ask the cream to be mixed before them.

I noticed that many whiten creams, with labels that say they contained adjustable substances for babies.

Other sellers coming using adjustable ingredients such as kodzhinic acid, hydrochinone and powerful antioxidant, glutathione that can cause rashes and other side effects.

I also witnessed teenage girls who bought whitening creams for themselves and volume so they can sell them to their peers.

One woman who changed her arms insisted that the seller added the lighting agent to the cream mixed for her children, although it was a regulated adult substance and illegally use children.

“Despite the fact that my hands are discolored, I am here to buy creams for my children so they can be easy. I believe my hands so because I used wrong. Nothing with my children will happen,” she said.

One seller said most of his customers bought creams to make their children “glow” or look “radiant and shiny.”

Most seemed to be unaware of approved dosages.

One seller said he used “a lot of Kadic” – well over the established border – if someone wanted light skin and smaller when they want to change thinner.

According to NAFDAC, the approved dosage of Codji in the cream in Nigeria is 1%.

I even saw sellers who give women injection.

D -R Leonard Imocpario, director of Nafdac, says that attempts have been made to teach people about risks.

He also says that the markets are searched, and there is an effort to hob This ingredients that make it difficult for the skin at Nigeria when brought to the country.

But he says it was sometimes difficult to determine these substances.

“Some of them are simply transported in indispensable containers, so if you do not take them to the laboratory for evaluation, you can’t say what is inside.”

Fatima says her actions will chase her forever, especially when her children do not disappear.

“When I trusted in my mom about what I was doing, from her behavior, and when I heard the danger of the cream and what stigma with which her grandchildren faced, she was sad that they had to endure it and apologized,” she says.

Fatima determined to help other parents avoid the same mistake.

“Although I stopped … Side effects are still here, I ask other parents to use their situation as an example.”