Education on The Danger of Hydroquinone in Whitening Body Lotion Products in The Community

Abstract

White and bright skin is considered a symbol of beauty, success, and social status, especially in several Asian countries. This is the basis for feeling the need to care for skin, especially women. One way to care for your skin is by using whitening body lotion products so that it will produce an attractive appearance, where white and bright skin is the indicator. Finally, many women compete to use instant whitening products at low prices, but forget about the impact. Hydroquinone is an organic compound with an aromatic group that is usually added to some skin-whitening products. However, you need to pay attention to the levels and duration of use, because it can cause skin irritation and trigger cancer because it is a carcinogen. The hydroquinone level in the product is a maximum of 0.02%. This educational activity is carried out by combining methods, namely lectures, questions and answers, and discussions. PkM participants are 25 people from Lubuk Pakam. The PkM team also carried out pre and post-test activities to measure the level of knowledge of PkM participants after being given education. The PkM results provide new insight for PkM participants that some whitening products contain hydroquinone compounds at levels that exceed the limit, so PkM participants must know about the dangers of hydroquinone and how to choose safe whitening products. After being given education, PkM participants have experienced an increase in knowledge where the participants' post-test average score was 80,2 whereas the previous pre-test average score was 55,7.