Cure for acne

Urban legends have a way of fascinating some of us. Snopes is a great resource to find out whether Coca Cola's name is transliterated as "Bite the wax tadpole" in Chinese or if chewing gum really takes seven years to make its way through the human digestive system or whether the five second rule applies.

I've mentioned urban legends from Asia before - they were all news to me but there's a new one being reported on in the Phnom Penh Post and KI-Media. That is that the lubricant from the "Number One"brand condoms, cure acne.

A condom lubricant designed for sex workers and gay men has become a popular acne cure among female Cambodians, women in the capital and local media said Thursday.

Number One Plus, a water-based lubricant produced by health organisation Population Services International (PSI), is an excellent cure for acne, 29-year-old vendor Tep Kemyoeurn told AFP.

"After I used it for three days, all of my acne dried up and went away," she said. "Many people believe in it," she added.

Khen Vanny, 29, from Phnom Penh, told AFP that women of all ages have taken to using the lubricant to get rid of spots.

"It is very effective. Some people don't believe in it but people who do really get a good result," she said, adding: "My youngest sister and my aunt use it too."

A vendor near a factory in the coastal city of Sihanoukville told the newspaper that she sold packets of Number One Plus lubricant for 500 riels (12 cents) to many women every day.

Lost cost acne treatment or urban legend? Maybe there is some active ingredient in the lube, however unlikely it seems to my admittedly un-medical mind.

Is this a slut-shaming movement that likes the idea of women rubbing lube on their faces in a non-sexual context?

This idea probably originates in the same school of thought that informed us that a fan in a closed room can cause death by sucking all the air out. What do you think?

ETA: Here's the advert for it.