UPDATED 10/31/06
By Hannah Sivak, PhD
Biochemist

Skin lighteners, skin whiteners and skin brighteners are different names given to a type of product that decreases skin pigmentation. Skin color is mainly determined by the amount and type of the melanin in the skin.

There are two kinds of people looking for skin lighteners: those who have irregular pigmentation, resulting from age spots and/or melasma, and those who are not content with the color of their skin (too yellow, too dark).

The short story:
There are several mechanisms by which a substance can help to lighten the skin color but most of them work by suppressing melanin synthesis Some chemicals are very effective but can be irritating or are known to have undesirable side effects.  For example, strong chemicals may end up bleaching the skin permanently and irregularly, or increasing pigmentation in spots, both permanent unwanted effects. So it is very important  to prevent these  bad results. The best way is to avoid using strong chemicals like hydroquinone, especially in types of skin known to react badly, like African American and dark Latino skin.

Because melanin synthesis increases as a response to stress of several kinds, like UV and oxidants, avoid the sun and use sunblock.  You should also know that skin lighteners will not destroy existing melanin, so you will have to wait until your skin renews itself to be able to see the lighter skin.

There are a number of excellent natural and synthetic chemicals that can help. If you have isolated hyperpigmented spots, use the skin lightener only on those areas. The same if you have melasma, a type of skin hyperpigmentation caused by hormonal changes brought about by pregnancy or the use of  "the pill".

Some excellent actives are
Azeloyl glycine (will also accelerate skin renewal), kojic acid dipalmitate (an easy to use and stable version of kojic acid), arbutin (the active chemical in bearberry extract), licorice root extract, gamma aminobutyric acid, melatonin, glutathione and magnesium ascorbyl phosphate. By using several of these actives, your chances of success increase, because melanin content of your skin will decrease through inhibition of several steps rather than just one.

UPDATE: the combination of N-acetyl glucosamine and niacinamide, besides increasing synthesis of collagen and hyaluronic acid, also decreases hyperpigmentation, age spots and uneven melanin distribution.


If you want to make your life easier, get Skin Actives Scientific "skin lightening cream", which contains liquorice, glutathione, arbutin, melatonin, MAP and kojic acid dipalmitate, and more.

Remember the following rules:

Rule number 1:  be patient, do not expect fast results, because only the new skin will be lighter.
Rule number 2: do not expect to look like Michael Jackson. His skin is sick, having lost its natural melanocytes. He probably had vitiligo, an immune disease in which the body kills its melanocytes, leading to white spots, and his doctors probably killed the rest to lead to an homogeneous white skin that lacks melanin, a sort of artificial albinism.

Questions and answers
Q: Hi, I read your guide on peels and I had a question. I did a TCA peel and I have a brown spot now (it has been 3 months since the peel) where the peel was preformed. Is there a way to get rid of it?

A: If you had the TCA done by a dermatologist or esthetician, go and see the practitioner. TCA is dangerous and I am surprised that it is sold on Ebay like if it were nothing.

Hyperpigmentation as a response to stress (in this case a chemical burn) is more common in dark skin. Try to avoid the sun and use on that patch the skin ligthening kit we sell.