I visited a popular market in Kano, where people who call themselves "mixologists" create skin-whitening creams from scratch. The market has a whole row of shops where thousands of these creams ...

The agency has alerted health care providers to advise patients against using the creams. Skin-lightening creams may be used to whiten or lighten the skin, or remove freckles, acne, wrinkles ...

No company has had greater success peddling this message across Asia, Africa and the Middle East than Unilever’s Fair & Lovely brand, which sells millions of tubes of skin-lightening cream ...