I’m sure you have often seen the phrase “anti-aging care” in advertisements for cosmetics. Since aging and oxidative stress are closely related, do these anti-aging cosmetics also have something to do with oxidative stress and anti-oxidation?

Cosmetics for Aging Care

There are various types of anti-aging cosmetics, such as lotions, milky lotions, serums, and creams. Basically, most of them are applied directly to the face or skin.

Some of these products claim to have antioxidant properties that can suppress oxidative stress, but the evidence for their effectiveness is unclear in many cases.

It would be better if they were just ineffective. The scary thing is that using such cosmetics can lead to terrible problems.

Health Problems Caused by Cosmetics

Many people may remember the case of vitiligo caused by the use of cosmetics that were supposed to have a whitening effect.

Since it was a product of a famous cosmetics manufacturer, it was said that about 20,000 people were affected, and it was a very large-scale health hazard.

Vitiligo is a condition in which a part of the skin loses its color due to the loss or malfunction of melanocytes, the cells that make the skin color.

In other words, the skin becomes speckled with white areas. It would have been better if the entire skin had turned white because it was a skin whitening product, but the fact that it turned white is a big problem for women, both physically and mentally.

The cause of the vitiligo used in the cosmetics in question was rhododenol, a compound of phenol. Phenol is an organic compound with antioxidant properties, but it has very strong side effects. If applied to the skin, it can cause dermatitis and vitiligo, and if taken into the body, it can cause kidney and liver damage, pulmonary edema, vision problems, and other serious symptoms.

It is true that phenol has an antioxidant effect, but I think that the cosmetic manufacturers made a very bad decision by putting something with such serious side effects in their cosmetics. Being an antioxidant is not necessarily equal to being good for the skin.

Finally

There are many different kinds of cosmetics available on the market, from famous manufacturers to small ones.

With claims such as “anti-aging” and “whitening”, it’s easy to be tempted to buy them.

However, before you buy a product, please do some research on its ingredients and effects.

You may find out that there is actually no evidence to support the attractive effects of the product. You can find out a lot of information on the Internet nowadays, so please make use of it. When it comes to cosmetics, “STOP impulse buying!”. That’s right.