A whitened face woman with nephrotic syndrome
Abstract
Skin whitening cream from developing countries is a recognized source of chronic mercury poisoning. The authors report on a 34-year-old Indonesian domestic helper who presented with nephrotic syndrome secondary to membranous nephropathy. It was subsequently found that she used a skin whitening cream regularly that was found to contain a mercury level of almost 2,000 times above the allowable limit. Her blood and urinary mercury levels were both grossly elevated. Her symptoms improved after she stopped using the cream. However, she returned to her home country before chelating therapy could be arranged. Because mercury-containing skin products are still widely available in developing countries, the use of these products should be considered a possible cause of membranous nephropathy in immigrants from those countries.
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Use of products like Deluxe Silken can lead to symptoms of mercury poisoning including Nephrotic Syndrome.
“Deluxe Silken is approximately 14,000 times the recommended limit for Mercury and use of products of this kind can lead to symptoms of Mercury poisoning including Nephrotic Syndrome as have been documented in the US,14,29 Barbados5 and Indonesia.30”
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- Authors
- Soo, Y. O.-Y., Chow, K.-M., Lam, C. W.-K., Lai, F. M.-M., Szeto, C.-C., Chan, M. H.-M., & Li, P. K.-T.
- Affiliations
- Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Venue
- American Journal of Kidney Diseases
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2003-01
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 250-253
- ISSN
- 0272-6386 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1988884276
- Cited by
- 69
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2022: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 2.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Kidney Diseases (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Nephrology › Renal Diseases and Glomerulopathies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Mercury impact and mitigation studies
- Keywords
- nephrotic syndrome, membranous nephropathy, mercury toxicity, skin bleaching creams, urinary mercury, blood mercury, chelation therapy, immigrant health, developing countries
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Ankle, Cosmetics, Cultural Characteristics, Edema, Emigration and Immigration, Face, Female, Hong Kong, Humans, Mercury, Mercury Poisoning, Nephrotic Syndrome, Glomerulonephritis, Membranous
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