‘Fairness mania’ is fueling a dangerous drug dependence in India

Soma Banik was just 14 when a neighbor first introduced her mother to a cream that would lighten her skin – and improve her future. The cream contained the steroid betamethasone, which she used daily in hope of developing fairer skin.

At first, she saw results and the compliments came pouring in, but then things changed. Over the next couple of years, she faced endless skin problems – because her face had developed a drug dependency.

Banik is just one of many women across India to experience this and she, along with dermatologists across the country, are speaking out via CNN.

Studies as recent as this year show corticosteroid-based creams continue to be misused by people hoping to make their skin fairer, despite restrictions in place to prevent this happening.

In this special investigation, CNN explores how a combination of culture and unfair beauty standards across India along with the failure to implement drug laws has caused a silent epidemic of astronomical magnitude in which women are damaging their skin, and their lives, in the hope of a good future. CNN speaks to women affected, as well as the experts trying to shine a light on the issue, and holds the authorities failing to protect these women to account.

This investigative report was produced as part of the launch of a new series by CNN’s As Equals titled ‘White lies: Exposing the Dangers of Skin Whitening’. The series aims to reveal the scale of the use of harmful skin whitening products worldwide; raise awareness of colorism which often underpins their use; and hold to account corporations and government agencies who manufacture, sell, or inadequately regulate these products.

Join the global conversation on social media by using the hashtag #FightingWhitening.

The As Equals team is partnering with notable figures and global organizations working on this issue, including the World Health Organization and European Environmental Bureau.

Launched in January 2018 and expanded in 2021 with a three-year grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the As Equals mission is to reveal what systemic gender inequality looks like. With stories on underreported issues in underreported parts of the world, told by underrepresented voices, As Equals spotlights taboo subjects and aspires to effect change.