Posted on August 29, 2010
Marta Rendon, M.D., Dermatologist
Pigmentary disorders of the skin, such as melasma, have often been treated with a hydroquinone, a well-established and effective skin-lightening agent. It may be used alone, or in combination with other active ingredients such as in Tri-Luma cream.
Concerns about possible side effects have lead to the development of alternative medications. Some promising agents include kojic acid, lactic acid, arbutin, vitamin C, niacinamide (vitamin B3) and soy protein or soy derivatives. These active ingredients, like hydroquinone, alter the way that the skin produces or metabolizes melanin, the primary pigment in skin.
Hydroquinone can have serious side effects, but serious complications are rare. “One of the concerns is that hydroquinone is listed as a potential carcinogen, but we don’t believe that’s true,” says Marta Rendon, M.D., associate clinical professor at the University of Miami. “We have used so many hundreds of thousands of pounds of hydroquinone, since at least the 1970?s, that if hydroquinone were truly a carcinogen, we would have seen the damaging effects by now.”
And, of course, the hydroquinone alternatives have side effects as well. Skin care experts also caution that the efficacy of these alternative agents be evaluated before relying on them for the treatment of pigmentary disorders.
“The other products haven’t proven that they really are as good as they say they are. In the few studies that actually compare them to hydroquinone, they never beat it,” says Dr. Rendon. She added that “I don’t think the alternatives are any safer, so why would I choose a treatment that takes longer to work and still doesn’t achieve the results of hydroquinone?”.
Dr. Marta Rendon’s clinical opinion regarding hydroquinone and other skin lightening agents were published in the August issue of Dermatology Times. Marta I. Rendon, M.D. is a board-certified dermatologist in private practice at The Rendon Center for Dermatology and Aesthetic Medicine in Boca Raton, Florida and is Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Miami School of Medicine.
