How to obtain skin whitening in a safe and effective way?

Melanin the natural color in our skin is synthesized by melanocytes. The distribution pattern in the surrounding keratinocytes and the nature of the formed melanin determine the actual color of our skin. Melanin forms through a series of oxidative reactions involving the amino acid tyrosine in the presence of the enzyme tyrosinase. Skin whitening agents often inhibit the activity of tyrosinase, for example, by competitive or non-competitive inhibition of its catalytic activity, by inhibiting its maturation, or by accelerating its degradation. The cosmetic industry is looking for novel, effective, possibly "natural" ingredients of low or absent side effects. With hydroquinone, the previous benchmark in this field, fast and effective results to whiten skin were obtained. The drawback of the fast effect was the high cytotoxicity of hydroquinone and its huge irritation potential. New active ingredients with a much improved toxicology profile have been developed instead. They often provide the whitening effect in a reversible way, demonstrating that the biology of melanin production will only be suppressed during treatment but not destroyed. These new kinds of natural whitening ingredients however force us to become more patient. They do work well if they get the time the biochemistry of the skin needs and surprisingly they can even provide skin protection.