INDIAN women, watch out! Think twice before you place that innocent-looking, stick-on vermillion dot on your forehead. Or, before you slip your plastic purse into your blouse. At least that's the message from dermatologist R K Pandhi of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi.

Investigations by his team reveal an increased incidence of leucoderma - a progressive loss of skin pigmentation that results in white patches - in women regularly wearing stick-on bindis, plastic slippers or carrying plastic purses tucked inside their blouse.

It may be too early to say whether these elements actually induce leucoderma, but Pandhi says they seem to hasten the appearance of the white patches.