Bleaching Gone Wrong! Woman Goes Blind After Using Skin Lightening Cream

In a scary development for people who like to bleach their skin, a US woman is said to have lost part of her vision after using chemicals to bleach her skin.

The mother from Minnesota lost her side vision after using beauty creams with dangerous amounts of mercury. Mercury is a metal that is very dangerous.

CNN told the shocking story. According to the newscaster, the Minnesota Poison Control System did a case study that explained how the woman went blind after using skin bleaching creams.

Dr. Erin Batdorff of the MPCS warned that some of the chemicals used to bleach skin can poison people with mercury.

Dr. Batdorff, who is also a fellow in medical toxicology, warned that some of the skin lighteners are not properly labeled and have dangerous side effects.

"People have no idea.

"No one wants to hurt him or herself or their family on purpose.

"But it's out there, even though you can't see it or smell it. Because it's not on the labels, consumers have no way of knowing if the creams contain mercury or not.

The unlucky woman, whose name has been kept secret to protect her privacy, was sent to Dr. Batdorff's team after showing a number of signs. She has trouble sleeping, pain in her legs, weak muscles, tiredness, and the loss of her side vision.

Dr. Batdorff and his team did tests on the woman, who is of Somali descent, and found that her blood and urine had a lot of mercury in them.

Dr. Batdorff says it's too bad that the woman's partial blindness can't be fixed.

"She won't be able to see again.

Batdorff told CNN, "Being a young woman who has lost her sight is really scary and pretty upsetting."

The medical toxicologist also said that many more people are probably being exposed to dangerous levels of mercury through chemicals used to bleach the skin. He also said that most people might not have any symptoms yet.

During Batdorff and the MPCA's first visit to the woman's house, they found two skin-whitening beauty creams. The woman from Minnesota said she was done with the bleaching products and no longer used them.

Tests showed that the mercury levels in the two skin bleaching products were many thousands of times higher than the 1 part per million (ppm) limit for cosmetics.

Mercury wasn't listed as one of the products' ingredients, either.