Introduction: Skin whitening is the act of
brightening the skin complexion by using substances that are applied on the
skin or administered into the body by other means. The use of skin whitening
agents has its drawback in terms of causing harmful effects such as skin disorders like depigmentation, rashes, pimples,
discolorations, kidney damaged, cancers, neurological and psychiatric disorders
depending on how the agents for skin whitening are used. Objective:
The paper examines the knowledge, attitude and practice of skin whitening by university
female students in north eastern Nigeria, where some dark skinned women in
particular tend to bleach their skin. Method:
A cross sectional descriptive study. Results: The awareness level of the students about
skin whitening agents and their harmful effects was found to be high among the
students and little below, half
of them are already users of such agents mainly for beautification. Few of them
think the use of skin whitening agents can be addictive and
lead to social stigma but they don’t believe that the use of such agents should
be restricted to medical only. Conclusion: Majority of the female students in the Universities
in north-eastern Nigeria bleach their skin with dangerous chemical agents meant
for other reasons mainly to attract the opposite
sex despite having high knowledge of the harmful effects. Government is
highly recommended to take the necessary steps to curtail such menace.
Cite this paper
Amodu, M. O. , Bolori, M. T. , Ahmad, I. M. , Kale, A. and Kuchichi, A. (2018). Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Skin Whitening among Female University Students in Northeastern Nigeria. Open Access Library Journal, 5, e4501. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1104501.
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