Whitening beauty masks full of bacteria: watchdog

Friday, December 16, 2005
Whitening beauty masks full of bacteria: watchdog
VIVIENNE CHOW
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Customs officers are investigating after two brands of beauty masks
were found to have excessive levels of potentially harmful bacteria –
one exceeding the standard by 3,300 times.
This follows tests by the Consumer Council on 40 paper face masks which
claim to have a whitening or moisturising effect, or both.
The council said the bacteria found in the DPC Hydro Whitening Mask and
the Tiffanye Lavender Facial Mask could cause skin infections.
The DPC mask had 3.3 million units of bacteria per gram, 3,300 times
the 1,000 units set by the China National Health Inspection hygiene
standard for cosmetics.
The Tiffanye mask had 36,000 units, 36 times the standard.
Hong Kong does not have its own standard for such products.
The two samples were also found to have yeast and mould counts
exceeding the mainland standard.
DPC Hydro Whitening Mask had 1.1 million units, while the Tiffanye
Lavender Facial Mask had 3,500 units, much higher than the standard of
100 units per gram.
The Customs and Excise Department said it would follow up the case and
had bought samples of the imported masks for further testing.
The council said that after the tests the local distributor for
Tiffanye had suspended sales of the product but said later its own
tests had shown the masks met the mainland requirements.
Watsons last night recalled stocks of the Tiffanye Lavender Facial Mask
and Watsons Whitening and Moisturising Facial Mask in response to the
findings. DPC did not return calls for comment.
The 40 masks tested ranged in price from $2.50 to $80 each.
Ching Pak–chung, vice–chairman of the Consumer Council's publicity and
community relations committee, said such high levels of bacteria could
be harmful.
"If the masks were used for a long time around the delicate eye area
they could cause infection," Professor Ching said.
"If the mask is applied on a wound it could cause infection and the
wound would take much longer to heal."
He said bacteria was able to survive in the moist environment provided
by the facial masks.
Dermatologist Leung Sze–kee said a minimal amount of bacteria would not
cause problems but too much could lead to infection. The presence of
yeasts and moulds could also lead to complications.
Up to last month, the Consumer Council had received 18 complaints about
facial masks, compared with 19 last year. They mainly focused on masks
failure to whiten and/or moisturise and allergic reactions to masks.
The tests also found three samples of facial masks contained
fluorescent substances that remained on the skin after washing, causing
the skin to glow under UV light.

Friday, December 16, 2005
Saturday white fever unmasked
VIVIENNE CHOW
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The masks might promise a glowing complexion but the results were
not exactly what the users had in mind.
After following the directions on the packaging, one user went out to a
disco. She was highly embarrassed to find the UV lights reacted with
fluorescent agents in the mask to make her face glow.
She took her complaint to the Consumer Council.
The council said the fluorescent substances in facial whitening masks
could remain on the skin, even if the user thought they had been rinsed
off.
"We tested the samples and found that these fluorescent substances
could stay on the skin after use. We do not have the statistics for how
these substances will affect our skin in the long term but they could
cause allergies," said Ching Pak–chung, vice–chairman of the council's
publicity and community relations committee.