A NEW DISEASE

Shannon News, 20 October 1925, Page 1

A NEW DISEASE

SHORT SKIRTS TO BLAME. PRICE OF FOLLOWING FASHION HEARTH JOURNAL’S WARNING Girls who wear short skirts and silk stockings, take warning! A new disease has broken out in your sex and it is suggested that the cause, of is the back of protection of the lower legs, which is now so common, there being no skirts to cover them, thin silk garments which try,' feebly, to keep them from the world without. One of the most unfortunate ( points about fashion, is a little known, or, at least, a little heeded one. It is that certain diseases are clearly caused by the fashions and dress, a fact which does not seem to have been stressed by dress-reform advocates or teachers of hygiene. Chlorosis Gone. Everyone knows, nays the American Journal of Public Health, that in the later years of the last century', chlorosis of young girls are excessively common, and a certain make of pill held an important place in the physicians’ armamentarium. The disease, which was a sort of anemia, has almost completely disappeared; so that many of the younger physicians are inclined to. believe that it did not occur as frequently as the statements of the older doctors would have us believe, but there is good evidence that the so-called "green-sickness,” was excessively common. Girls in all walks of life suffered. Those who exercised and those who worked for their living suffered equally with the pets of fate and of society, who could afford liesure and the best of food. Those yvho are inclined to doubt the existence of chlorosis, may well be asked to explain why the disease was found in girls and not in boys and why the older physicians should have made a mistake in diagnosis. The main exciting' cause of the disease was almost certainly tight laeing and the wearing of tight corsets, and since

these articles of .torture have been abandoned, the disease has practically disappeared. The charge against corsets was first made in 1395 and has recently been supported by the observation of physicians in various parts of the world. Disease and .Legs But now a new disease seems to have taken place of chlorosis. What is styled as a chronic indurative erythema of the legs of girls and young women has become quite common in certain parts of Europe and a number of cases have been demonstrated before the Royal Society of Medicine in England. The . disease produces thickening of the skin and subcutanous tissues, spreads from the ankles joints upwards. The affected area is red or bluish, does not put on pressure and the pallor produced by pressure disappears at once. There is a feeling of cold, pain and pressure. Both legs are affected as a rule and the condition is seen mostly between the ages of 14 and 20 years. It is most troublesome in the cold season, and produces a lack of normal tone or strength. Fashion's Price And it has been suggested, as aforesaid, that the scantiness of present day, nether-dress is the cause. While this has not been proved definitely to be the case, it is not certain that this particular condition has been observed only since short dresses and silk stockings became popular. One may well ask why the disease is not more common. The answer according to those who have studied it most, is that the exciting causes are efficient only ? when there is some constitutional defect in the vein circulation of the I skin and subcutaneous tissues which may be allied to the constitutional condition which leads to the true crythema induration of Bazin. This is a rather rare disease marked by one or more deep-seated nodules," usually on the legs. The nodules• ,enjarge, becoming red, violaceous’ or livid in colour. The induratioiis 1 may break down, resulting in an indolent,< .deepseated ulcer. The most, deplorable feature, of ailments due to the decrees of fashions is that no amount of teaching or arguments will have the slightest effect in stopping them. Fashion has-a wonderful hold on the “weaker” sex, and those who worship at her shrine are prepared to obey her whims. There is on the other hand, this consolation ■ —that fashions are fickle and few of them remain in vogue long enough to do any very great amount of damage.