Many people with darker skin tones or uneven pigmentation spend hundreds of dollars each year trying to find a product that safely and effectively brightens and lightens the skin. Many such treatments are topical creams that reduce levels of melanin, the pigment responsible for tanning, freckles, age spots, acne scars, and discoloration from pregnancy hormones. Darker skinned people have higher levels of melanin.
The Problem with Topical Lightening Creams
Skin lightening creams work by reducing melanin pigment in the areas where they are applied. The most common active ingredients in lightening or bleaching creams include hydroquinone, steroids and retinoic acid. Skin lighteners made in Asia and sold outside the US often contain mercury, which can be highly toxic. Some skin lighteners use natural ingredients like kojic acid, a fungus derivative, arbutin, found in various plants.
In addition to being expensive and application site specific, skin lightening creams come with some risks with prolonged use, including:
- Premature skin aging
- Increased risk of skin cancer
- Increased risk of skin infections, skin thinning, acne, and poor wound healing and other health problems from steroids
- Unwanted and untreatable skin discoloration from hydroquinone
- Skin irritation or allergic reaction.
Moreover, creams wash off, or get rubbed off by clothing, diminishing or even neutralizing their effect.
Natural Skin Lightening with Glutathione
Glutathione (pronounced “gloota-thigh-own”) is an antioxidant that appears naturally in your body, protecting your cells from a number of negative environmental factors including:
- poor diet
- pollution
- toxins
- medications
- stress
- trauma
- aging
- infections
- radiation
One interesting side effect of glutathione observed by medical practitioners is a temporary lightening of the skin seen in patients receiving the treatment.
After word got out about glutathione’s skin brightening properties, it was not long before many cosmetic, skin care and supplement companies began offering glutathione formulas to everyday consumers.
How Glutathione Works
Glutathione works to lighten skin by naturally inhibiting melanin production. It does so by disrupting the activity and transport of the melanogenic enzyme tyrosinase. It also inhibits L-DOPA, the precursor to dark melanin, in its reaction with tyrosinase, causing melanosomes to create a pink pigment that gives you a rosy pink glow. In addition to inhibiting tyrosinase, glutathione reduces free radicals in your body that can activate tyrosinase and cause an increase in melanin production.
The Best Way to Boost Glutathione Levels
While there are a number of oral, sublingual and injectable versions of glutathione, the most effective way to get extra glutathione by IV infusion.
When administered by IV drip, glutathione directly enters your bloodstream and is immediately carried to cells throughout your body where it is put to work for cellular repair.
When glutathione has done its job of improving your cellular health, excess quantities will begin to affect your skin pigment, causing skin cells to become lighter and brighter. Elevating glutathione levels adequately to affect skin pigment requires high doses, and may require multiple IV treatment sessions.
Glutathione IV Treatment in NYC
Whether you want glutathione treatments to brighten skin, even out pigment or improve your overall health, the friendly staff at Advanced Cryo NYC is ready to help. Located just around the corner in historic SoHo, Advanced Cryo NYC offers a variety of micronutrient IV cocktails and other treatments for health and beauty to keep you looking and feeling young and beautiful, all year long.
