Bleached Babies: Western beauty ideals driving mental health concerns in Ghana – Dr Titus Beyuo – Nsemkeka
Gynaecologist and former Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr Titus Beyuo, has warned that Ghana may be experiencing a community-wide mental health crisis, driven by a troubling obsession with light skin and Western standards of beauty.
His comments follow a joint investigation by JoyNews and Nigeria Health Watch that uncovered a disturbing public health crisis: parents in Ghana are bleaching the skin of their babies and children as young as three using toxic, banned substances.
In communities like Chorkor, a densely populated fishing enclave in Accra, skin tone is becoming a status symbol, and children are the latest victims.
Mothers are applying creams containing dangerous ingredients like hydroquinone, mometasone, and tretinoin, all banned by Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA). Some even resort to household bleach—hypochlorite—commonly sold as Parazone.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, June 2, Dr Beyuo expressed grave concern over the increasing use of skin-lightening products and the psychological motivations behind them.
He emphasised that while such chemicals can pose serious medical risks, the root causes are often deeply psychological, and increasingly cultural.
“While these chemicals can lead to medical issues, mental issues can predispose someone to the tendency to use these things,” Dr Beyuo said.
“In rehabilitating and managing them, clinical psychologists and mental health practitioners play a critical role,” he noted.
He warned of what he called a “community diagnosis of a mental problem”, suggesting that an unhealthy value system has taken hold in parts of Ghanaian society.
According to Dr Beyuo, many people now associate fairness with beauty, privilege, and even success—an attitude that is not only problematic but potentially damaging to national identity and social cohesion.
“When a large proportion of society believes that just being fair makes you beautiful, and just being fair should give you advantages, then we are facing a serious societal issue,” he stated.
Highlighting worrying practices in the education sector, he described how some schools choose light-skinned pupils for promotional materials, aiming to appeal to potential parents by showcasing ‘half-caste’ or white children.
“What does that mean?” Dr Beyuo asked. “It reflects a distorted and harmful value system.”
He called for a collective response, not only targeting individuals who use skin-bleaching products but also the broader cultural norms that perpetuate colourism.
“We may need to rehabilitate the entire society,” he asserted.
According to Dr Beyuo, the increasing normalisation of skin bleaching and the societal values that underpin it point not merely to individual struggles but to a deeper, collective mental health issue.
“A communal diagnosis and communal therapy may be required,” he said.