Treatment For Aene

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 121, 17 October 1941, Unnumbered Page

Treatment For Aene

(Written for "The Listener" by DR.

H. B.

TURBOTT

Director of the Division of School

Hygiene, Health Department)

nice, and if the proper precautions are taken, there is really no need why it should happen. At a certain age in many peoples’ lives-that late school period when the F ACIAL disfigurement isn’t very

young adolescent is rather touchy about his or her, mostly her, personal appear-ance-there comes a time when the face and other parts of the body break out in a crop of pimples and blackheads. To the sensitive young high school miss who is just starting to take an interest in her looks, this unhappy development is frequently a cause of embarrassment and tears, Instead of a peaches-and-cream complexion, she has a ‘spotty-looking face that wouldn’t win a prize anywhere. ; This is acne. It affects the face more than any other part, but also occurs on various parts of the body. It is caused by a germ, known as the acne bacillus, which is particularly partial to a greasy skin, In some people, the skin glands, engaged in producing the oil that keeps the skin surface supple, manufacture a little more than is necessary. Hence a greasy skin-which very often runs in families. It is- usually associated with dandruff in the scalp. The same little germ occurs in such a scalp, and with the head as a source of infection, the condition on the face and other parts of the body is kept alive. A Social Liability The assertion that a young adult will eventually grow out of acne is perfectly true. Even without treatment, most people succeed in throwing it off somewhere between the ages of 21 and 30, but, in the meantime, the sufferer has had to endure a good measure of the

shyness and feeling of self-shame that a pimply face induces. Socially, a pimply face is a liability, and psychologically, it is harmful. Properly treated, however, acne can be cured in a few weeks or monthsprovided the patient plays the game according to the rules. In the first place, the diet should be plain and simple, with ample fruit and vegetables. Excess carbohydrates and fat must be avoided. Sugar, pastries and cakes, which provide surplus carbohydrates, should be reduced substantially; don’t eat too much chocolate. It contains fat. Cut down on your cheese ration, too. It is also essential that constipation should be corrected. Get out in the sunshine and fresh air, Don’t use greasy toilet creams or over« doses of oil on the skin when sunbathing. Se All that will help tone up the system. Plenty of Washing Now for the infected areas. Wash them thoroughly with hot water and soap twice daily. Don’t be scared about washing pimples and blackheads. It must be done. Apply sulphur-preferably in the form of a milky lotion of zine sulphate and flowers of sulphur. Get your chemist to scent it to your fancy, Rub it in after you have washed and dried the areas, and allow it to dry on. When it is dry, rub the resulting powder into the skin, and remove the excess. After seven to 10 days, the skin gets tight, and may look scaly. Instead of cold cream, apply a cream containing salicylic acid and glycerin of starch. Lift out the blackheads with an expressor, and after dabbing the spot with spirit, apply the lotion. In a short time, the beneficial results will become apparent. All this might sound like a lot of trouble, but it isn’t, really, and if the sulphur lotion treatment is persevered with, it is usually successful. (Next week: "Grapefruit,’ by DR. MURIEL BELL) -- — a -_-