MELAKA, Malaysia — A woman’s face swelled up after using beauty products that she purchased online last week.

Mastura Abu Bakar (pic), 36, said she has used the product several times this year but that last week she bought the same product from a college student for RM50.

She said that after using it, her face became painful, her face became red while her skin became itchy.

She added that her cheeks swelled up while she had difficulty opening her eyes, causing her daily activities including her sleep to be disrupted.

“But once I used the product purchased on Thursday, my face swelled up on Saturday,” she said.

As a result, she had to cancel her plans of a holiday with her friends during the weekend as she could not bear the pain.

“Because of the pain, I went to the clinic near my home and was given medicine. I was referred to the skin specialist in Hospital Melaka.

Mastura, who works in a clothing boutique in Dataran Pahlawan, hopes that other people will learn from her experience and that they would not be obsessed with looking beautiful until they had to endure shame and pain.

Her good friend Faizah Md Noh, 32, said she was shocked to look at Mastura’s face.

A doctor specialising in Aesthetic medicine, Dr Aidil Azry Datuk Mokhtar said that most beauty products that worked quickly such as whitening creams contained chemicals such as raksa, hydrouinone, tretinoin, asid azleaik and betamethasone.

He said that these chemicals could cause the skin to become thinner, red, sensitive and exposed to diseases such as skin cancer.

He said that this year alone, more than 20 people had come to see him to overcome problems skin problems caused by the use of cosmetic products that contained those chemicals and which never got the approval of the Ministry of Health.

“I advise people to be more careful in choosing beauty products. Don’t be fooled by products that act quickly to brighten your skin,” he said.