visakhapatnam from clinching job interviews to sealing matrimonial alliances and impressing the opposite sex skin lightening or fairness creams claim to do it all for you there are also antiaging creams that even claim they will make you look a decade or so younger and superattractive millions of viewers of television commercials especially young men and women are bombarded daily by such ads of fairness creams trying to cash in on indian societys obsession with a fair complexion to market their skin lightening and antiaging products for not just women but men as well but in reality despite all their tall claims that they can make a darker person fairer or younger looking these creams cant really change ones skin type and can even cause more harm than good according to medical experts besides being a waste of money the prolonged use of such creams can also in some instances trigger various serious skin ailments and can even have adverse psychological impact like depression low confidence and hypochondriacal delusions the feeling that ones skin or health is not right though he or she may be completely healthy experts added dermatologists classify the human skin into five types type 1 very fair white like european skin type 2 fair or yellowish or wheatish north indian or mongoloid skin type 3 and 4 dusky or dark south indian skin tones type 5 very dark like african skin in india most people have type 2 3 and 4 skin tones and fairness creams however high quality they may claim to be can only temporarily make the skin a shade lighter but changing the skin type is not possible through any medical or cosmetic procedure pointed out experts adding that there is also no difference between male and female fairness creams all these skin creams act on the outer layer of the skin that contains the pigment cells called epidermis which is just 510 thickness of the entire skin at most they touch the surface of the next layer the dermis no cream pervades deep into the dermis thus skin lightening is just a temporary phenomenon and may make a slight difference to the skin tone but a dark person can never turn fair even if these creams are used daily for years together pointed out dr p v sudhakar head of the department of plastic surgery and burns at king george hospital some people also go to cosmetic parlours for regular peeling of the epidermis but repeated chemical peeling makes the skin more sensitive to the sun and darker as the skin wont be able to protect one from harmful ultraviolet rays sunscreens ranging from spf 1550 should also be used with caution because if one uses a sunblock cream of the wrong spf the skin can develop white or dark patches called hypopigmentation or hyperpigmentation respectively added dr sudhakar doctors therefore advise trying for a shiny and moist skin which are signs of a healthy skin and this can