Skin Scare

A 26-year-old Vietnamese unlicenced beautician was questioned at Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday morning after one of his clients accused him of botching a skin-whitening procedure, a police official said. Sin Bunri, the police chief of Sen Sok district’s Toek Thla commune, said his officers arrested the man on Monday after the woman filed a complaint with them. The complaint said the man had given her injections of “skin-whitening cream”, and that her face had then become swollen and painful. The victim said she had consented to the procedure in the hope of whitening her complexion and concealing a bruise, he added. “When we arrested the man, we found two injection needles, cream and some products on him,” Sun Bunri said. “We asked him what kind of products he used, but he would not tell us because he was afraid that we would copy him and go into business.” In early March, a 23-year-old woman in Banteay Meanchey province died after overusing a skin-whitening cream made in Vietnam. Shorly thereafter, Prime Minister Hun Sen urged women to avoid such products and to preserve their “natural beauty”.