{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T15:02:00Z","timestamp":1787238120869,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,7]],"date-time":"2025-11-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1762473600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Nephrotic syndrome caused by mercury poisoning is rare and can often be misdiagnosed. We report a 33-years-old female patient who experienced fatigue and edema of the lower extremities for 1 month. A renal biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of membranous nephropathy (MN) for the patient. Her urinary mercury level was measured at 56.22 ug\/L, with a reference range of 0\u201310 ug\/L. A cream used to remove freckles was identified to contain about 13276 mg\/kg mercury, which is the possible mercury source. The patient\u2019s symptoms improved after chelation therapy, and their urinary mercury levels gradually decreased. After 12 months of follow-up, the patient remained in a state of complete remission. Using mercury-based cosmetics over an extended period can lead to mercury poisoning and trigger MN. Chelation therapy serves as an effective treatment, yielding positive clinical outcomes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2025.1651441","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,7]],"date-time":"2025-11-07T05:21:03Z","timestamp":1762492863000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Case Report: Nephrotic syndrome caused by mercury poisoning due to freckle-removing cream"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Can","family":"Wu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dandan","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1186\/s40360-021-00493-y","article-title":"Epidemiology, clinical presentation, treatment, and 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