Asian skin can suffer from specific problems that can’t be addressed using regular beauty industry moisturisers and facial products. Asian skin is thicker than white skin and can be leathery in appearance. This means it needs richer, deeper penetrating creams. The ideal moisturiser for Asian skin should contain a high Sun Protection Factor (SPF) to prevent further darkening of skin colour, and antioxidants for protection against harmful free radicals and pollution. Younger Asian women in particular want their skin to appear lighter and blemish free with even skin tone. In this quest for an ivory complexion, many Asian women have used potentially harmful skin peels, or taken expensive tablets that claim to work from within, to lighten the skin. Unfortunately many of these products contain harsh ingredients, and can produce uneven light-and-dark patches over the face and body. I do not want the next generation to risk harming their skin in this way, and I have researched the safest skin lighteners available. Kojic acid is the active ingredient in the latest safe skin lightener. It helps lighten skin colour by inhibiting the production of melanin that causes skin darkening and age spots. The skin takes between 4-8 weeks to renew its layers, so during that time the new lighter skin cells come through and the whole complexion will look fresher and brighter. Dark patches around the eyes are a problem for a lot of Asian women, and they often appear across the forehead and cheeks. This is usually a consequence of pregnancy or hormonal changes at the menopause. These blemishes can be unsightly, and many women would like to get rid of them without using harmful chemicals or undergoing cosmetic surgery. The skin around the eyes is much finer than the rest of the face, and cannot absorb a normal face cream. If we compare the thickness of skin on the various parts of our body to paper, the delicate eye area would be like tissue paper, the face like writing paper, and the neck like wrapping paper. A skin treatment cream for this delicate area needs the correct consistency for absorption around the eyes, otherwise puffiness and swelling will be made worse. A mild skin bleaching ingredient such as kojic acid can be used in an eye treatment cream, to reduce the appearance of dark eye circles. Sun damage is also a major hazard for Asian skin – not only making it darker, but also causing blemishes and scarring. There are safe skin treatments designed to prevent or repair sun damage, at any age by using vitamins A and E with antioxidants. This combination will help to boost the skin’s immune system and can reduce the appearance of existing blemishes by speeding up tissue repair. Lypozomes are another important ingredient, as they help fade brown spots by changing the rate of skin cell clustering, and leave the skin looking younger and clearer. Using these skin care ingredients is not vanity – they are a vital protection for healthy skin in today’s environment. When buying cream for Asian skin, you should ask which active ingredients it contains, and whether the products have been tested to local safety standards. In the UK this means they should be tested in accordance with Department of Trade & Industry requirements, to ensure safety and effectiveness. Most of us will also want to check that the products have not been tested on animals.