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Glutathione for skin lightening: a regnant myth or evidence-based verity?

The recent hype surrounding the antimelanogenic properties of glutathione has resulted in physicians frequently administering it as a “wonder” drug for skin lightening and treatment of hyperpigmentation, especially in ethnic populations with darker skin tones. This phenomenon has seen a recent surge...

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Autores principales: Sonthalia, Sidharth, Jha, Abhijeet K., Lallas, Aimilios, Jain, Geraldine, Jakhar, Deepak
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Derm101.com 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5808366/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29445569
http://dx.doi.org/10.5826/dpc.0801a04
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author Sonthalia, Sidharth
Jha, Abhijeet K.
Lallas, Aimilios
Jain, Geraldine
Jakhar, Deepak
author_facet Sonthalia, Sidharth
Jha, Abhijeet K.
Lallas, Aimilios
Jain, Geraldine
Jakhar, Deepak
author_sort Sonthalia, Sidharth
collection PubMed
description The recent hype surrounding the antimelanogenic properties of glutathione has resulted in physicians frequently administering it as a “wonder” drug for skin lightening and treatment of hyperpigmentation, especially in ethnic populations with darker skin tones. This phenomenon has seen a recent surge owing to aggressive marketing and capitalization of pharma-cosmeceutical companies. However, the unbridled and prodigal use of it, especially as a parenteral formulation, seems unjustified, given the lacunae in our knowledge about its antimelanogenic potential, limited clinical evidence favoring its role in skin lightening, and the statutory ban/advisory issued by certain federal agencies. Even though parenteral glutathione is approved only for severe liver disorders and for prevention of chemotherapy associated neurotoxicity, the lack of statutory laws governing the use of systemic glutathione in most countries has contributed to its unchecked use for skin lightening. The current clinical evidence of intravenous glutathione for skin lightening is limited to a single study with a dubious study design and apparently flawed analysis of results, casting doubt on the drug’s efficacy and reported adverse effects. Two studies evaluating oral/sublingual administration and one trial involving the use of topical glutathione reported good safety profile and appreciable but reversible results on skin tone. In this article, we shall review and discuss the current status of glutathione as a skin lightening agent and address the sundry unanswered queries regarding the dosage, duration of use and longevity of accrued effects based on clinical evidence and recent insights into its antimelanogenic mechanism.
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spelling pubmed-58083662018-02-14 Glutathione for skin lightening: a regnant myth or evidence-based verity? Sonthalia, Sidharth Jha, Abhijeet K. Lallas, Aimilios Jain, Geraldine Jakhar, Deepak Dermatol Pract Concept Articles The recent hype surrounding the antimelanogenic properties of glutathione has resulted in physicians frequently administering it as a “wonder” drug for skin lightening and treatment of hyperpigmentation, especially in ethnic populations with darker skin tones. This phenomenon has seen a recent surge owing to aggressive marketing and capitalization of pharma-cosmeceutical companies. However, the unbridled and prodigal use of it, especially as a parenteral formulation, seems unjustified, given the lacunae in our knowledge about its antimelanogenic potential, limited clinical evidence favoring its role in skin lightening, and the statutory ban/advisory issued by certain federal agencies. Even though parenteral glutathione is approved only for severe liver disorders and for prevention of chemotherapy associated neurotoxicity, the lack of statutory laws governing the use of systemic glutathione in most countries has contributed to its unchecked use for skin lightening. The current clinical evidence of intravenous glutathione for skin lightening is limited to a single study with a dubious study design and apparently flawed analysis of results, casting doubt on the drug’s efficacy and reported adverse effects. Two studies evaluating oral/sublingual administration and one trial involving the use of topical glutathione reported good safety profile and appreciable but reversible results on skin tone. In this article, we shall review and discuss the current status of glutathione as a skin lightening agent and address the sundry unanswered queries regarding the dosage, duration of use and longevity of accrued effects based on clinical evidence and recent insights into its antimelanogenic mechanism. Derm101.com 2018-01-31 /pmc/articles/PMC5808366/ /pubmed/29445569 http://dx.doi.org/10.5826/dpc.0801a04 Text en ©2018 Sonthalia et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Articles
Sonthalia, Sidharth
Jha, Abhijeet K.
Lallas, Aimilios
Jain, Geraldine
Jakhar, Deepak
Glutathione for skin lightening: a regnant myth or evidence-based verity?
title Glutathione for skin lightening: a regnant myth or evidence-based verity?
title_full Glutathione for skin lightening: a regnant myth or evidence-based verity?
title_fullStr Glutathione for skin lightening: a regnant myth or evidence-based verity?
title_full_unstemmed Glutathione for skin lightening: a regnant myth or evidence-based verity?
title_short Glutathione for skin lightening: a regnant myth or evidence-based verity?
title_sort glutathione for skin lightening: a regnant myth or evidence-based verity?
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5808366/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29445569
http://dx.doi.org/10.5826/dpc.0801a04
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