From personal experience, glutathione skin-whitening supplements can make one only as light as the skin one was born with, or a shade or two lighter at most.

My mother says the lightest I was able to achieve as an adult, via Glutathione IV and supplements (MAC NC20, Shu 564), was still not as light as my skin when I was a toddler.

Now I have been lax with sunblock and taken to walking as exercise; so I have gone two foundation shades darker (MAC NC35).

My goal is to be back to my original tone by Valentine’s Day.

Dermatologist Leah Salido of Aesthetic Science advised that one should stay away from the sun, especially direct sunlight, and apply oneself at least SPF 30 PA++ when outdoors. She suggested generous reapplication every two hours even when one is staying indoors, paying attention to one’s face, neck and hands.

She added that one should wear long sleeves and skirts/pants if one does not do reapplication.

Foundation lovers should try SPF50 PA++ matte nude toned sunblock.

Dr. Salido also recommended body scrub with bleach combined with gluta IV with vitamin C every two weeks or even weekly.

Body scrub is made of sea salt combined with essential oils; it results in very fine peeling.

Bleaching cream is only for clinic use as it is too potent, but Salido’s clinic provides a take-home kojic whitening lotion (tel. 8993643).

Skin Reformage Clinic owner Joy Linsangan found the available glutathione whitening tablets in the market wanting. She felt it had too little glutathione content and did not whiten fast enough.

So, she formulated her own: 650 mg of glutathione, the highest among all brands, with 100 mg vitamin C and rose hips, alpha lipoic acid, collagen and vitamin E.

If one wants to hasten skin brightening, she suggested taking capsules twice a day for three months. She further advised taking extra vitamin C at 500 mg and alpha lipoic acid at 50 mg.

Linsangan’s skin is an even-toned, light golden peach, like some Spanish telenovela actress.

She said her skin was white to begin with, but one could see her color had become perfectly even.

Why is her skin dewy and glowing? She said she would take a tablet a day for maintenance and avoid the sun as much as possible.

Her formula is priced at P2,250/30 capsules (tel. 9580200).

Glutathione capsules that gave me fast results:

Snow Caps (tel. 0928-6652646); Glutatone (tel. 0917-8082926); Mosbeau (four capsules a day) and Belo Glutathione (available at leading drug stores).

Shock whitening

Still impatient? Not for the faint of heart is Finessa’s Gluta Slow Drip, which gives five grams of glulathione (10 to 20 times more than the usual dose) in a bag to be administered for two hours. It costs P4,000 per session.

The needle will be stuck in the skin for two hours.

After three sessions, customers said they noticed their hands and arms getting lighter. But four to six sessions are recommended.

Added benefits: bathroom habits get more regular and one sleeps better at night (tel. 0917-3303390)

One may also try the Skinlux Body Sea salt body scrub with whitening oil.

The clinic was very strict that after treatment, the customer should not wash or soap her body until the next morning.

In my case I found myself micropeeling on the third day and which lasted for 10 days. Lighter patches of skin began showing through.