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Light and shadows: Skin bleaching in Uganda

By Ashley Strickland, CNN

Updated 1550 GMT (2350 HKT) January 25, 2016

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Ritah, an employee of a Mama Lususu salon in Kampala, Uganda, has her skin worked on by her colleagues. Ritah has extremely bleached skin with many infections, according to German photographer Anne Ackermann.
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Ritah, an employee of a Mama Lususu salon in Kampala, Uganda, has her skin worked on by her colleagues. Ritah has extremely bleached skin with many infections, according to German photographer Anne Ackermann.
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An optical enlarger waits for customers at a Mama Lususu salon in Kampala.
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An optical enlarger waits for customers at a Mama Lususu salon in Kampala.
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Jassinta shows her hands, which have a two-toned look. The skin on joints and ankles is thicker and therefore more difficult to bleach. Many women come to Mama Lususu's to specifically brighten the knuckles, feet and elbows, Ackermann said.
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Jassinta shows her hands, which have a two-toned look. The skin on joints and ankles is thicker and therefore more difficult to bleach. Many women come to Mama Lususu's to specifically brighten the knuckles, feet and elbows, Ackermann said.
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Customers' clothes hang over a wall at Mama Lususu's. Full-body bleaching takes place behind closed curtains in small wooden cabins.
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Customers' clothes hang over a wall at Mama Lususu's. Full-body bleaching takes place behind closed curtains in small wooden cabins.
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Susan visits Mama Lususu's during her lunch break to have her skin treated. She said she doesn't bleach her skin.
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Susan visits Mama Lususu's during her lunch break to have her skin treated. She said she doesn't bleach her skin.
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Creams and conditioning agents are seen at the salon in a busy Kampala shopping mall. "There seems to be a serious pressure for women to fit into dominant beauty stereotypes in a society based on the belief that the fairer and lighter is associated with beauty and wealth," Ackermann said.