Prevalence of Using Glutathione as Whitening Agent among Saudi Girls At Makkah (Saudi Arabia), 2014: A Cross-Sectional Study
Journal Title: International Journal of Medical Research Professionals - Year 2018, Vol 4, Issue 1
Abstract
Background: Intravenous administration of glutathione for the purpose of skin whitening is a practice that has spread throughout many countries in Africa and the far and Middle East in recent years, despite a warning bulletin put out by the Food and Drug Administration of the Filipines in 2011 that the use of glutathione administered intravenously as a skin-whitening agent at very high doses is unsafe and may result in serious consequences to the health of users. Objectives: To get an idea of the prevalence of IV glutathione use for the purpose of skin whitening among women in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted over a period of five months starting from April to August of 2014, where 250 women aged 20-35 years, who had all received glutathione injections, were asked to fill out questionnaires. Results: The study included 250 women. Most of them (69.6%) used glutathione injection for skin whitening, with significant association between reason of using glutathione injection and type of skin (p=0.00039). Near half of them 111 (44.4%) had 4 injections and 17 (6.8%) received over 4 doses. Regarding source of information about glutathione; 83 (73.2%) reported friend or relative who received injections. Most of the participants 181(72.4%) had no information about the injections apart from their use for skin whitening. Skin changes were reported by 53 (21.2%) of the women after receiving glutathione. Almost two-thirds of the women 159 (63.6%) reported developing side effects such as itching, tingling, pain and transient loss of sensation. Regarding the whitening result from glutathione: 179 (71.3%) were satisfied with the results they obtained. Conclusion: Seeking whiter skin is a common practice among Saudi women. However, many recipients are ignorant regarding true information regarding trading preparations, which warrants raising public awareness about the issue.
Authors and Affiliations
Ahmed Alliali, Tahani Magliah, Salwa Bardisi, Safa Magliah, Dania Magliah
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP529036
- DOI 10.21276/ijmrp.2018.4.1.008
- Views 164
- Downloads 0
Evaluation of Respiratory Diseases among Patients Visited in Hospital: A Clinical Study
Background: Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) are classified as upper respiratory tract infections (URIs) or lower respiratory tract infections (LRIs). The present study was conducted to evaluate respiratory diseases a...
Chikungunya and Dengue Co-Infection: Emerging Insight Threat
Background: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and Dengue virus (DENV) are arboviruses transmitted to humans by hematophagous arthropods like Aedes aegypti mosquito. As these diseases cause several clinical symptoms, they have be...
Evaluation of Hypokalemia among Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction at a Tertiary care Teaching Hospital
Background: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a common disease with serious consequences in mortality, morbidity, and cost to the society. Past studies have also stresses on the variations occurring in the serum potas...
Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice of Infection Control among Students and Interns of College of Dentistry, Aljouf University
Objective: To assess the level of knowledge, attitudes and practice regarding infection control measures among dental students and interns. Material and Methods: Ninety five dental students and interns of the dental coll...
Investigation of the Efficiency and Satisfaction Score of Platelet-Rich Plasma versus Hyaluronic Acid for the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis
Introduction: With the aging population, prevalence of osteoarthritis is continuously on an increase. The management of chondral disease is challenging because of its inherent low healing potential. The aim of this study...