Men too have caught the whitening fever. Supermarkets and pharmacies boast rows of whitening aftershaves, creams, cleansers, moisturizers and even wipes, designed for men. After discovering that Indian men were snapping up women's whitening products, Beiersdorf released a "Nivea For Men" whitening line last year.

Unilever has launched three men's lines with whiteners. The Anglo-Dutch company says the "lightening" sector has grown 12 percent annually for the past three years in Asia.

"According to our research, 87 percent of Thai women want to have lighter skin," Unilever spokeswoman Aranya Luepradid said. "In Asia, lighter skin equates with beauty and well-being. Lightening products are developed in response to these consumer needs." A 35-year-old senior executive at a major Thai company applies six beauty aids every morning to her near-perfect complexion. Three of them contain whiteners. The woman asked to be identified only by her nickname, Noi, because of the sensitivity of the topic. She said she won't give them up despite warnings that long-term use of some whitening agents can discolor skin and actually darken sun and age spots.

Bangkok's major thoroughfares are lined with giant billboards featuring a pale-skinned Eurasian model promoting Neutrogena's "Fine Fairness." In China, advertisements for a Nivea whitening eye cream read, "To make you more eye-catching."

There is even a nipple-whitening cream promising "softer skin, pinker shade" and deodorants and antiperspirants that lighten armpits.

"If I believe that something will help me look better, then I have no hesitation to buy it," said Thai fashion designer Chanala Chongsathit, 45.

Pom, as she is known, spends about US$3,300 annually on beauty aids, including a US$80 whitening mask to counter the effects of years of playing golf and tennis.

Her favorite brand is Shiseido, she said, "because the Japanese understand Asian skin the best. And, of course, their skin is the whitest."

Not everyone can afford the brand-name whiteners, and some resort to unsafe substitutes.

In 2005, Sumarni, a housemaid who like many Indonesians goes by one name, returned from a holiday with blisters across her face. She said her skin was burned by a whitening paste prepared by a neighbor.