Last week, cosmetologist and dermatologist Dr G.R. Ratnavel had a visitor, a lovely 3-year-old girl accompanied by her mother.
The mother wanted the doctor to make her daughter ‘fair’.“Microdermabrasion, glycolic peels, bleach — try anything you want and spare no expense,” was her plea. The young mother was flustered because the child was dusky while the parents were light-skinned.
Two days later, he met a 7-year-old girl who had dragged her parents to a corporate hospital to find a doctor who can make her ‘fair’.
“She was only in the second standard, but had already developed an inferiority complex because she was not fair-complexioned.
She told me that all the other children in her class were fair and they teased and bullied her,” recalls Dr Ratnavel.
Both families were disappointed when the doctor sent them back with a prescription for calamine lotion.
However, the popular skin specialist admits that a large chunk of his earnings come from youngsters who buckle under social pressure and bullying from peers.
“As much as 40-50 per cent of young customers — some of them still in their teens — come to me for skin-whitening treatment. Often, they have already done plenty of research online and are quite specific about what they want — chemical peels and microdermabrasion to lighten skin colour and laser treatment to remove scars,” explains Dr Ratnavel.
“I always tell them that all cosmetic treatments, no matter how expensive, are temporary — their effects last for six months at the most.
When beautiful young girls and boys come for such unnecessary treatment, I try to convince them that the skin colour given to them by their genes and by nature is the best for them,” he adds, pointing out that some Chennaiites are willing to spend any amount of money to alter their looks and be accepted by their peers.
“There are certain good brands available, but over-use of these chemical products can damage the skin,” Dr Ratnavel says.
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