Mercury poisoning associated with a Mexican beauty cream

Weldon, Minda; Smolinski, Mark S.; Maroufi, Azarnoush; Hasty, Brian W.; Gilliss, Debra; Boulanger, Luke; Balluz, Lina; Dutton, Ronald J.

doi:10.1136/ewjm.173.1.15

Cited by 104 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…In this study, a few patients had skin rash, elevated liver enzymes, or insomnia, and the others did not have apparent nervous system symptoms, such as abnormal feeling, convulsion, and tremor, indicating that the majority of the patients' extrarenal organs or systems were not obviously implicated. Epidemiologic data showed that mercury poisoning mainly resulted from occupational contact with mercury, abuse of mercury-containing compounds, or skin-lightening cosmetics (8,9). In recent years, renal diseases from mercury poisoning have apparently decreased in developed countries, but mercury exposure is still not rare in developing countries, which deserves concern.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury-Induced Membranous Nephropathy

Zhang

Chen

et al. 2010

Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology

116

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Results: A total of 10 women and 1 man ages 15 to 45 years were enrolled in the present study. Mercury exposure was caused by mercury-containing pills (five patients), skin lightening cream (four patients), hair-dyeing agents (one patient), and mercury vapor (one patient). The duration of contact with mercury ranged from 2 to 60 months, and the urinary mercury concentrations were 1.5 to 50 times higher than reference values. All patients presented with proteinuria and normal renal function; three had nephrotic syndrome. Light microscopy revealed thickened glomerular basement membrane and mildly proliferative mesangial cells. Acute tubulointerstitial injury occurred in three patients. The immunofluorescence findings showed granular deposits of IgG and C3 along the glomerular capillary wall, mostly accompanied by deposits of C4 and C1q. IgG1 and IgG4 (predominantly IgG1) deposits were observed along the glomerular capillary loops. Nine patients reached complete remission in follow-up after withdrawal from mercury exposure.Conclusions: Deposits of IgG1 subclasses in renal tissues indicated that the pathogenesis of mercury-induced MN differs from that of idiopathic MN. It is important that clinicians are aware that mercury exposure should be considered a possible cause of membranous nephropathy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury-Induced Membranous Nephropathy

Zhang

Chen

et al. 2010

Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology

116

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“…The applications of mercuric compounds have decreased significantly during the last 30 years, but they are still used in many household goods such as skin-lightening creams and germicidal soaps (Weldon et al, 2000). The residuals of mercury in these products can eventually reach the municipal sewage treatment plants (MSTP) via the disposal of domestic wastewater.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trophic transfer of mercury and methylmercury in an aquatic ecosystem impacted by municipal sewage effluents in Beijing, China

Wang

Zhou

et al. 2010

Journal of Environmental Sciences

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Gaobeidian Lake, located in Beijing, China, serves as a recipient lake for effluents from a large municipal sewage treatment plant (MSTP). In order to evaluate the effects of discharging MSTP effluent on the mercury contamination of the local aquatic ecosystem, sediment cores, water, plankton, fish, and turtle samples were collected from Gaobeidian Lake for mercury speciation analysis. High concentrations of total mercury (T-Hg) were detected in sediment cores (5.24-17.0 μg/g dry weight (dw), average: 10.1 μg/g). The ratio of methylmercury (MeHg) to T-Hg was less than 0.3% in sediments and ranged from 35% to 76% in biota samples. The highest level of T-Hg and MeHg were found in aquatic bryophyte and crucian carp (3673 and 437 ng/g dw, respectively). The relative contents of MeHg were significantly correlated with trophic levels (R 2 = 0.5506, p < 0.001), which confirmed that MeHg can be bio-transferred and biomagnified via food chain in this aquatic ecosystem.

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“…Both organic and inorganic mercurials are employed in topical preparations. There have been studies reporting the frequent use of skin-lightening creams and its potential harmful effects [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. Palmer et al [28] proved in in vitro human model that mercury can be readily absorbed through the skin and the rate of its absorption was relative to the glycerolcontaining formulation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accumulation of Mercury in Ovaries of Mice After the Application of Skin-lightening Creams

Al‐Saleh

Shinwari

Al-Amodi

2009

Biol Trace Elem Res

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Skin-lightening creams are being increasingly used by women in particular, worldwide in an attempt to whiten their skin. Men and older people use these creams to remove age spots or other pigmentation disorders. Several studies have reported the presence of high mercury levels in skin-lightening cream. Women, especially pregnant and nursing mothers, who use these creams are at risk of mercury toxicity because long-term exposure can cause permanent neurological damage, nephrological disorders, fertility problems, and birth defects. Early exposure usually has no clinical symptoms. Mercury levels were measured in a total of 49 ovary tissue samples. The mean mercury contents in the ovaries of non-treated mice (11.70 +/- 13.38 ng/g) were compared to mice treated with Rose skin-lightening cream samples (2,471.92 +/- 1,336.31 ng/g) and those treated with Fair & Lovely skin-lightening creams (58.47 +/- 39.51 ng/g). The mercury content in the ovary tissues increased with number of cream applications and were highest in the ovaries of mice treated twice a day with Fair & Lovely (87.79 +/- 26.20 ng/g) and once a day with Rose (3,515.61 +/- 1,099.78 ng/g). Our data indicate that dermal exposure to mercury can result in a significant accumulation in the ovaries of mice following the application of skin-lightening cream. This may cause alterations in reproductive behavior and contribute to infertility or ovarian failure. Of course, these results need to be confirmed by further research. Imported or locally made skin-lightening creams are widely available in Saudi market. It would be ideal to ban the sale of these creams but unfortunately, advertisements in the mass media presenting celebrities and beauty specialists make these products more popular. Alternatively, public health authorities should encourage more reliance on prescribed creams for the treatment of skin pigmentation problems.

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Mercury poisoning associated with a Mexican beauty cream

Cited by 104 publications

References 14 publications

Mercury-Induced Membranous Nephropathy

Mercury-Induced Membranous Nephropathy

Trophic transfer of mercury and methylmercury in an aquatic ecosystem impacted by municipal sewage effluents in Beijing, China

Accumulation of Mercury in Ovaries of Mice After the Application of Skin-lightening Creams

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