Publications by authors named "Leocadie Kamagaju"
Background: The use of skin-lightening (SL) cosmetics appears to be common throughout the world, especially among dark-skinned women from sub-Saharan Africa.
Objectives: The aims of this study were to evaluate the extent of the practice of SL in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, the motivations behind this practice and the complexity of the adverse effects observed.
Methods: An inventory of products sold on the Kigali market and their contents were compared with the results of a survey investigating the products used by the local population in order to deduce the proportions of people who depigment.
Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Voluntary depigmentation, a very common practice in sub-Saharan Africa, often performed with pharmaceutical products diverted from their pharmacological use, may cause severe dermatological and systemic side effects. The present work aims at investigating whether and which herbs were used in Rwanda for similar purposes before the advent of the current depigmentation craze; this may give clues at herbal treatments possibly advantageous compared to current products.
Material And Methods: Sixty-one traditional healers, mostly representatives of their associations, were surveyed by questionnaires for knowledge and practice of voluntary depigmentation.
Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Traditional herbal medicines provide an interesting, largely unexplored source for the development of potential new drugs and skin-care cosmetics. Some herbal extracts are known to be inhibitors of melanin formation, sometimes more potent than the classical inhibitors, hydroquinone/arbutin or kojic acid, and are not associated with melanocytes cytotoxicity or mutagenicity. Such plants are used in traditional medicine in many countries, particularly in Africa, for skin lightening.
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