In Philippines, Robin Padilla’s wife Mariel’s ‘gluta drips’ scandal spotlights deadly skin-whitening treatment

In a since-deleted Instagram post, Padilla told her 4 million followers on Wednesday last week that she never misses “a drip because it really helps in soooo many ways”.

The photo showed the 39-year-old receiving the treatment – which appeared to be a “gluta drip”, referring to a mixture of glutathione, an antioxidant, and vitamin C that’s marketed as an energy and metabolism booster which also whitens skin – in the office of her husband, an actor turned senator, with the Senate seal and national flag as a backdrop.

Medical professionals panned the Padillas for setting a bad example by promoting so-called gluta drips, which are highly sought-after in the Philippines for their supposed health benefits – despite not being approved for skin lightening and doctors’ warnings that they can be deadly. Mariel later denied that the IV in the picture contained glutathione.

In January, a 39-year-old woman died in suburban Quezon City hours after receiving an intravenous [IV] injection of glutathione and stem cells, health reform advocate Dr Tony Leachon, a former president of the Philippine College of Physicians, reminded users on X. The health department is still investigating the cause of her death.

At the time, Philippine Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa warned that the treatment “will whiten your skin and make you look really Caucasian, but it can damage your kidneys and kill you”.

“Sadly, we see a proliferation of establishments offering this service – most not even manned by [licensed] physicians,” Dr Maria Angela Lavadia, past president of the Philippine Dermatological Society, told This Week in Asia.

Neither glutathione nor vitamin C has been approved by the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration for skin lightening, Lavadia