A CREAM produced in Guangzhou contains a banned ingredient called dexamethasone, which makes users addicted to the product, Xinhua said yesterday (sep 18). The effect of dexamethasone is similar to opium.

Initially, it optimizes skin tone, but as days go by, customers become dependent on the product, and this can lead to diseases such as dermatitis, the report said.

A lady surnamed Tang in Wuhan, capital city of Central China's Hubei Province, has been using the cream for two years. It belongs to a series of cosmetic products carrying the Allen brand, which claim, in their advertising, to use natural ingredients imported from Switzerland.

Tang filed a complaint earlier this year, saying that the cream had had a "quick" and "obvious" effect at first. Her skin whitened after several months' use, but when she stopped using it, her skin became red and swollen as if she had been scalded.

When she used it again, she felt better, but her skin became thinner, Tang was quoted as saying.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that the cream contains a banned cosmetics ingredient, dexamethasone, which alleviates inflammation but may provoke addiction and make the skin thinner and darker if used for a long period.

Local media reports said that Allen cosmetics are on sale in more than 20 provinces and cities across the country and have over 2 million customers.

Editor: Wing