TALKS ON HEALTH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 305, 24 December 1937, Page 8 (Supplement)

TALKS ON HEALTH

Sores on the F ace

PORES on th? face are not only I irritating and painful, but cause L j mental anxiety as well, on ar- 1 ?! count of lhe disfigurement. They I ' spread over the face and head very i 1 1 rapidly, because the secretion from { j| one sore infects a fresh area of skin I 1 | and produces another crop. This ( l ! secretion, or matter, from the sores j 1 can easily bo conveyed to another ? person through lhe medium of towels I I or handkerchiefs or pillows, or, in 'he ! 1 case of children, by direct contact < 1 from kissing. If I car. satisfy myself [ ; that a ma 1 knows how to look after | himself and protect others from in- : r fed ion, 1 sometimes allow him to i continue at work. But I frequently I ( find it advisable to keep a man or I • female worker from work for a few ■ days at. first. It is fairer Io their ’ j fellow-workers, and it. enables the i i patient to devote more time and care ; ; ! to the management of his own case. ( • I never allow children to remain in ; i school with sores on their faces. Method of Treatment . { In the treatment of this complaint ; >• the attention is directed to two ob- i I i iects: (1) The removal of the scabs; ; land (2) lhe application of some anti- i [.septic ointment or lotion. The first [ , | part of the treatment should not he ■ I overlooked—it is important to remove j . f the scabs. It. is useless to apply oint- 1 . 1 ment to lhe scab; the beneficial effect i | can only be obtained by applying the 1 . 1 ointment to the raw skin underneath I . the scab. The sores should be treated ' with the ointment, or lotion about | ] four times a day. If any difficulty is 1 i found in removing the scabs, a hot | I fomentation should be applied. This | I is done by faking some pink boracic 1 lint, folding it double, and wringing it : out of water as hot as ran he borne. ; {One or two fomentations will loosen I the scabs, and they can then bo lifted < I off with a pair of scissors or a blunt 11 knife. All old drossings should no ' I burnt; they should never be used 1 again. Soap and Mater ! Have you ever noticed that boils on < ' the back of the neck always grow on i; 1 masculine and never on feminine I ( I necks? This at once suggests that the I ; ( chafing of the collar is one of the 'j I predisposing causes of boils on thei' I reck. But that is not ail. The collar L I is half the story, lhe other half is the L j little glands and pores of the skin. Ij These pores get clogged up and in ?.n I ■ unhealthy stale -first a blackhead I. forms, then a red pimple, and finally ( it comes to a head and a tiny abscess ! appears. Just as a stalely mansion j may be consumed by a conflagration (starting from a glowing match in lhe waste-paper basket, so an enormous I boil may start from a microscopic , l*.ackhead. This suggests the treat - I ment. Those clogged-up pores must bo attacked before thov become 1 ( abscesses, and the attack is made ( with soap and water. I do not sug- 1 gest for a moment that you do not t | wash your necks, but there is no ? doubt that to cleanse those poros , something more than ordinary wash- , ling is needed. Il requires friction w’ < a rough towel, rubbing and squecz- > ing for some minutes at a time. The treatment should be vigorous. Blackheads. 1 t The spots on the skin Ihal doctors P call acne are difficult Io remove.]’

I They car. be attacked by two methods -the local and the general treatjrnent. The local treatment to the I face can be carried out as follows: jThe face should be steamed so as to I’open the pores. After a few' minutes’ I steaming the skin should be gently , squeezed and pinched and massaged ito empty the little pockets of the skin of their contents. Blackheads I may bo squeezed out or removed by 1 pressing lhe end of a small key over ; them. Spots that have come to a j head must be pricked with a needle, i and the matter carefully wiped off ■ with a clean piece of lint; the matter : from the little abscess must not be ! smeared over the skin. When all the i blackheads have been removed and i the pustules pricked, the .ace must !be washed thoroughly with.,- plain ' water and wiped over with pieces of • soft lint that can be thrown away. A Mask for the Face. The water used for the washing is ; hot and is gradually cooled by adding j cold water. Water is cheap, and | plenty of it may be used. The masI saging of lhe skin has brought, all the ’stale perspiration and clotted dust and 1 grease on to the surface of the skin, | and the object of the washing is to ’carry away all the debris. Do not use •soap. The skins of young people with j acne are generally too greasy, and to { add greasy soap to greasy skins is to add fuel to the fire. Finish up the ■ washing with quite cold water. Then • from a piece of white lint cut out a mask to lit lhe face, and make holes for the eyes and mouth. Soak the , | mask in calamine lotion and apply it j ilo the face. You can lie down and . read a book with the mask on. The ( stuff may be kept on the face for < half-an-hour or so. The powder left ; on when the lotion dries need not be f removed. The whole process should ( ;be carried out at night before going 5 to bed. j ! Grow Old Gracefully. 1 should like to encourage and per- : suade you to grow old gracefully; to 1 accommodate yourself to what is i commonly called Anno Domini. Believe me, each age has its pleasures, its duties, its noble responsibilities. There is no need to exclaim against the rolling on of time. You make yourselves ill with worry and annoyance, and, incidentally, you give me “what for” because I am too ignorant. to know of anything that will put the clock back for you. The Children’s Sight. A squint in childhood can be cured by suitable glasses; only you must give the doctor a chance. Go early to the hospital; do not wait for four or five years. In these days of modern free education the parents ought to have sense enough to do these th : .ngs themselves. But they have not; the State has to be burdened ith the responsibility; the father has no time Io take his little child to the | hospial. The doctor and the nurse ; have to pick out the children with ■ squints and then hustle the parents, send them cards, call on them; push r tliem, shove them, worry them. And v then the father wakes up at last, and r say k , “Oh Tommy has a squint, has he-? Well, fancy that!”