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Mon May 10, 2010 9:33 pm  |
It can take long to start seeing results... around 2 months.
To help the HQ, try to exfoliate lightly every day (use an AHA) and see if you can incorporate either Retin-A or at least something with Retinol. |
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37, light brown hair, green eyes, very fair skin. Oily T zone, broken capillaries... Current regime: Tretinoin 0.05% every night, hydroquinone 4% twice per day, lachydran every other day, random moisturizers and sunscreen |
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Mon May 10, 2010 9:38 pm |
Natalyn and Josee - Hydroquinone is considered an unsafe product.
Hydroquinone *Warning*
The single most important ingredient you need to watch out for when deciding on a skin bleaching cream is Hydroquinone. This is because Hydroquinone is extremely dangerous and may lead to the development of cancer. It has already been banned in countries like the U.K. and France, and Dr. Jacobs of the F.D.A. has concluded that Hydroquinone is mutagenic, clastogenic, and immunotoxic. After learning of this new research, our team concludes that you should avoid any product which containsHydroquinone and instead use products which include the safer lightening agent: Alpha Arbutin.
You may want to play it smart and seek safer, less risky options. That said I do use Careprost which is a drug category on my lashes two nights a week. Guess we choose our "poison" but I would be very fearful of a product suspected of being carcinogenic.  |
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Enjoying dermalogica with my ASG and Pico toner ** Disclosure: I was a participant without remuneration in promotional videos for Ageless Secret Gold and the Neurotris Pico Emmy event. |
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Mon May 10, 2010 9:42 pm |
| thank you. I use a cleanser with AHA in it, and use retin-a on top of the HQ cream. Do I have to wait between applications, or can I put retin-a on top right after the HQ cream? |
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Mon May 10, 2010 11:18 pm |
| sister sweets wrote: |
Natalyn and Josee - Hydroquinone is considered an unsafe product.
Hydroquinone *Warning*
The single most important ingredient you need to watch out for when deciding on a skin bleaching cream is Hydroquinone. This is because Hydroquinone is extremely dangerous and may lead to the development of cancer. It has already been banned in countries like the U.K. and France, and Dr. Jacobs of the F.D.A. has concluded that Hydroquinone is mutagenic, clastogenic, and immunotoxic. After learning of this new research, our team concludes that you should avoid any product which containsHydroquinone and instead use products which include the safer lightening agent: Alpha Arbutin.
You may want to play it smart and seek safer, less risky options. That said I do use Careprost which is a drug category on my lashes two nights a week. Guess we choose our "poison" but I would be very fearful of a product suspected of being carcinogenic. |
I do agree that there are concerns over the safety of hydroquinone but I would never classify it as "extremely dangerous".
In the 40-50 years that hydroquinone has been on the market, there has not been one case of hydroquinone associated cancer.
In fact, the tumors that have been associated with hydroquinone were in rats who were administered large doses of hydroquinone orally. And those tumors had specific "species" characteristics which are not directly extrapolated to humans.
Finally, in the places where hydroquinone has been banned, it hasn't been banned because of it's potential as carcinogenetic, but because of it causing leukomelanoderma en confetti and exogenous ochronosis.
BTW, there are concerns over the safety of arbutin as well since it acts in a similar way to HQ. There just haven't been that many studies as there have been with HQ. |
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37, light brown hair, green eyes, very fair skin. Oily T zone, broken capillaries... Current regime: Tretinoin 0.05% every night, hydroquinone 4% twice per day, lachydran every other day, random moisturizers and sunscreen |
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Tue May 11, 2010 4:21 pm |
True:
Hydroquinone has been shown to cause blood cancers such as leukemia and kidney damage in animal studies.
When applied to the skin of humans it is absorbed into the blood stream and excreted via the kidneys but at a slower rate. This tells us that hydroquinone accumulates in the body. It is broken down in the bone marrow to p-benzoquinone and this is where long term damage may originate.
This alone should make anyone more than skeptical of using this product. Maybe you won't get cancer, but what other effects could it cause? Worth the risk????? |
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Enjoying dermalogica with my ASG and Pico toner ** Disclosure: I was a participant without remuneration in promotional videos for Ageless Secret Gold and the Neurotris Pico Emmy event. |
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Tue May 11, 2010 5:24 pm |
| sister sweets wrote: |
True:
Hydroquinone has been shown to cause blood cancers such as leukemia and kidney damage in animal studies.
When applied to the skin of humans it is absorbed into the blood stream and excreted via the kidneys but at a slower rate. This tells us that hydroquinone accumulates in the body. It is broken down in the bone marrow to p-benzoquinone and this is where long term damage may originate.
This alone should make anyone more than skeptical of using this product. Maybe you won't get cancer, but what other effects could it cause? Worth the risk????? |
Sis, just curious but what is your source for the above information? |
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Tue May 11, 2010 5:43 pm |
| sister sweets wrote: |
True:
Hydroquinone has been shown to cause blood cancers such as leukemia and kidney damage in animal studies.
When applied to the skin of humans it is absorbed into the blood stream and excreted via the kidneys but at a slower rate. This tells us that hydroquinone accumulates in the body. It is broken down in the bone marrow to p-benzoquinone and this is where long term damage may originate.
This alone should make anyone more than skeptical of using this product. Maybe you won't get cancer, but what other effects could it cause? Worth the risk????? |
As I said before, there are very legitimate concerns regarding hydroquinone.
However, as I said before, the cancers the animals suffered are species-specific. Leukemia in human beings originates in bone marrow. In the leukemia the rats showed, it originated in the spleen. There is no equivalent for that in human beings. The same thing happened with the kidney tumor; there is no equivalent.
And there are over 50 years of use with not one single cancer case, including people who are exposed to high doses of hydroquinone due to occupational exposure. Studies have differed on its metabolism with some saying that it's readily excreted while others say it's not. The absorption depends highly on the vehicle. Tri-luma, for example, exhibits only negligible absorption of hydroquinone.
Now even if we assume that it's absorbed, the amount absorbed is not that much compared to the amount of hydroquinone we eat every day.
For e.g. if one follows the instructions, a 2 oz tube of hydroquinone 4% should last 60 days. The whole tube (assuming a 4% concentration in 2 oz) would have 2272 mg of hydroquinone. If we use it as prescribed, we would apply 40 mg of hydroquinone per day.
Now let's assume we are eager people and that we use up all the tube in 2 weeks. Then it would mean that we use 162 mg per day.
But not all of the hydroquinone is absorbed. The maximum absorption ever reported was 57% which means that we would only absorb 22.8 mg/day (if we use it as prescribed) or 92.4 mg if we go crazy.
Now... one small cup of tea(200ml) has 28 mg of hydroquinone and 200 ml of coffee has 62 mg. A slice of whole wheat bread has 57 mg and a pear has 637 mg (!!).
So basically... we absorb more hydroquinone through our daily coffee than through a cream.
And we have to remember that hydroquinone eaten is very bioavailable.
So, should we be concerned about hydroquinone? Yes,but we should keep in mind that we get hydroquinone mostly from food so probably if we are really worried we should cut on coffee and whole wheat bread first.
However how one wants to cut "the risk" or whether someone thinks hydroquinone is worth the risk or not is a very personal decision.
References:
1. Dermatol Ther. 2007 Sep-Oct;20(5):308-13
2. Home Garden Bull. October 2002, No. 72. Washington (DC): US Dept of Agriculture. |
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37, light brown hair, green eyes, very fair skin. Oily T zone, broken capillaries... Current regime: Tretinoin 0.05% every night, hydroquinone 4% twice per day, lachydran every other day, random moisturizers and sunscreen |
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Tue May 11, 2010 8:08 pm |
| Josee wrote: |
| Natalyn wrote: |
| How soon should I start seeing any fading of the brown spots on my face? |
It can take long to start seeing results... around 2 months.
To help the HQ, try to exfoliate lightly every day (use an AHA) and see if you can incorporate either Retin-A or at least something with Retinol. |
At least 2 months. It took 3 months for me to see a change.
I agree with adding in an AHA and/or Retin A. |
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Wed May 12, 2010 9:48 am |
This 2005 paper/study is worth the read for those who are interested;
http://www.colorfoundation.org/pdf/Hydroquinone.pdf |
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♥I'm flattered by all the lovely PM's, but I don't get here much these days. Please don't be afraid to post your quearies to other DIY members who will be glad to help you (or sell you their wares..lol) Still happy with LED, dermarolling and a DIY antioxidant regime. Peace & Hugs to all.♥ |
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Wed May 12, 2010 11:39 am |
Doesn't Obagi have 4% HQ in it, too?
Yeah, I am aware of the potential danger of HQ, but I decided to try it anyway because I'm sick of nothing working on my spots.
Also I don't plan on using it for more than 6 months at most. If I don't see anything happening at 2 months mark, I probably won't be continuing on it anyway.
But I appreciate the input. The more informed the better.  |
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Wed May 12, 2010 12:53 pm |
| Natalyn wrote: |
Doesn't Obagi have 4% HQ in it, too?
Yeah, I am aware of the potential danger of HQ, but I decided to try it anyway because I'm sick of nothing working on my spots.
Also I don't plan on using it for more than 6 months at most. If I don't see anything happening at 2 months mark, I probably won't be continuing on it anyway.
But I appreciate the input. The more informed the better. |
Yes, Obagi does contain 4% HQ. It is still the only thing after this many years that has worked on my skin.
Are you going to use Obagi, or just a generic 4% HQ? Either way, I would give it 3 months before giving up. |
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