Woman Dies After Receiving Skin Whitening Injection In Philippines

A 33-year-old woman was killed after allegedly receiving glutathione injection at a spa in Sampaloc, Manila. Although glutathione is believed to whiten the skin, experts do not recommend that it would be injected readily to humans. Police identified the victim as Shyril Gee Distor, a restaurant manager. It was Monday afternoon when Distor had the glutathione injection, but she was rushed to the hospital after that.

“Nagpasaksak siya ng glutathione with vitamin c sa Glutaholics Spa sa Sampaloc. After siya ma-administer ng gamot, minutes later nag collapse yung babae and dinala siya sa UST hospital. Later that day, around 11:00 pm, namatay yung ating biktima,” said Police Captain Henry Navarro, chief, homicide section, Manila police district.

(She had glutathione with vitamin c shot at Glutaholics Spa in Sampaloc. The woman collapsed minutes after the drug was administered, and she was rushed to UST hospital. The victim died later that day at around 11:00 pm.). According to relatives of the victim, Distor died of cardiac arrest.

Aside from an autopsy on the victim’s remains, authorities will also examine if there are toxins in the victim’s body that may have caused her death. Police the bottle of drugs that the spa had given to Distor to the Food and Drug Administration.

According to Navarro, they are inquiring to the FDA if the drug used to the victim was already approved in the market. They are also asking the Professional Regulation Commission if the person who administered the drug to the victim is a licensed nurse. According to the FDA, glutathione injection can only be given at a hospital or licensed medical facility.

“First of all, it is illegal to use IVs in non-hospital settings, and so they are unlicensed ones. So if something goes wrong, then they are liable, and they can sue,” Department of Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo, officer-in-charge of FDA explained in Filipino.

According to reports, some people use glutathione to whiten the skin. But according to the FDA advisory, no injectable glutathione products for skin lightening are approved yet. Injectable glutathione is only approved as an additional treatment for chemotherapy to cure cancer. The side effects of this skin whitening may have toxic effects on the liver, kidneys, and nervous system.