It's popular around the world and has been a topic of accusation towards many minority celebrities in Hollywood for over a decade. Now, skin lightening is one of the fastest growing beauty trends in Atlanta.
It's a complicated topic that 11Alive found many people are not comfortable talking about.
Our reporter set up multiple interviews with locals who receive skin lightening treatments, but most backed out, saying they weren't comfortable making it public.
The stigma, usually, is that people don't want to come across as not loving themselves or their race - including many celebrities who have been accused of skin lightening, but deny the allegations.
"People of color are criticized for changing the color of their skin, but people of European descent, if they tan, its not a problem," says an Atlanta doctor on the forefront of this new trend, Ava Bell-Taylor, of the Taylor Medical Group.
In the past, the most common ways to lighten one's skin was through topical creams, pills or laser treatment. But the recent trend is Glutathione, administered through IV.
Glutathione is an antioxidant naturally produced in our bodies. It's used to treat a host of ailments, including Parkinson's Disease, Peripheral artery disease, autoimmune disorders, and preventing toxic side effects of chemotherapy.
One major side effect of Glutathione is skin lightening, because it reduces melanin production.
"Some patients come in and they have a lot of discoloration, they want to brighten or even (lighten) their skin," Taylor explains.
That's why a fellow doctor, from northern India, started getting her skin bleached. She initially agreed to speak to 11Alive on camera, but then changed her mind about showing her face and making her name public.
"I'm just not confident," she says.
Initially, she wanted a solution around her eyes, but when she discovered the skin lightening side effect of Glutathione, she realized it could also help resolve skin-deep issues she had as a child.
"Beauty standards in India are very simple," she explains. "Fair complexion, white, so called lighter skin, you made it...If the daughter is fair complexion, you get a groom very easy, so parents won't have to struggle so much."
When 11Alive reporter LaTasha Givens asked about what happens when a girl is born darker in her culture, she respond saying, "If she's darker, there's almost a dark cloud in the house."
Doctor Taylor says that skin bleaching has been popular in other countries for years, and now American's are catching on. The trend is most common in India, West Africa, and the South Asian countries.
"In Atlanta, I think, because its becoming more of a movie town where people are coming to shoot movies, you’re getting more and more people from L.A. and New York, and it really big in L.A. and New York," Taylor says.
One of the most famous celebs who admitted to using skin lightening is former professional baseball right fielder, Sammy Sosa.
The Dominican-American has been criticized the most publicly for his drastic change in appearance.
“It’s a bleaching cream that I apply before going to bed and whitens my skin tone,” Sosa told Univision in 2009. “It’s a cream that I have, that I use to soften [my skin], but has bleached me some. I’m not a racist, I live my life happily.”
People | Sammy Sosa says he doesn't care what people say about his lighter skin tone: 'This is my life'
Another celeb currently in the news is Blac Chyna, after she announced her partnership with Whitenicious by Dencid. The roll out of "Whitenicious X Blac Chyna Diamond Illuminating & Lightening Cream" has sparked conversation across the country as she prepares for a promotional trip to Nigeria.
This lightening cream is going for $250 a jar.
According to TMZ, Blac Chyna's rep said she has "been using Whitenicious dark spot corrector for a few years to deal with her hyperpigmentation."
Taylor says the cost for a Glutathione IV administration is about $150 per treatment. For some it takes three to four treatments until they start noticing the difference, she says.
The treatment process is getting Glutathione administered a couple times a week until a person sees the desired result, whether it be the wanted shade or the clearer complexion, etc. After that, most people get the treatments once a month or every other month for keep up.
Because the treatment is in IV form, Taylor says some insurance plans cover a portion of it.