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he skin.
Not “skin.” The skin. The house we live in.
When laid out flat, the skin of an average adult would measure some 20 square feet; it would weigh about 9 pounds. That’s a lot of organ – one of the largest and heaviest of the body. Also the most abused and maligned organ of the body.
Considering those “thousand natural shocks that [skin] is heir to,” its continuing function and lack of complaint is nothing short of amazing.
How do we treat this remarkable mechanism? We dig and rub and scratch it. We expose it to all the elements – extremes of heat and cold, sun, wind, rain, and snow. We cut it, shave it, pick it, squeeze it, pinch it, and twist it. We scrub it, pull it, and bend it. We rub it, slap it, punch it, and knead it.
In the name of Beauty, we paint it and mark it and spray it. In the name of Health, we massage it and scorch it in the steam room and sauna. Name another organ that can stand up to all that! Yet it survives. . . .
We never think of our skin as we do our heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, brain, or any other “important” organ. To many of us, this complex body stocking we wear so casually is just a sac to hold our insides in, a bag containing some watery stuff and bones. And yet the skin is an important, vital, viable, living mechanism without which the human organism cannot survive.
This, then, is your skin – “the envelope that encloses the letter of your biologic destiny” – that remarkable apparatus that spends a lifetime helping you adjust to your environment.
But we are not kind to our skin. We abuse it. And although we spend more than 20 billion dollars a year on skin care and cosmetics, we do not understand it. Only when the itching or burning or pain becomes unbearable or when the cosmetic disfigurement becomes embarrassing do we begin to take it seriously.
While the skin is strong and tough, it is also delicate and fragile. The cure-all in a jar that promises relief from such diverse conditions as acne, warts, eczema, dry skin, poison ivy dermatitis, genital herpes, and psoriasis is deceptive and misleading. One salve or lotion cannot be useful for a dozen different ailments, just as Cinderella’s slipper will not fit every foot.
There are over two thousand different diseases and conditions that can affect the skin, hair, nails and mucous membranes. Everyone will, at one time or another, develop some type of problem that deals with this large integumentary system. Everyone. . . . Warts, dandruff, dry skin, moles, athlete’s foot. Excess hair or not enough hair. Rashes from the sun, from germs, from poison ivy. Insect bites, cold sores, hives, rectal itch. Large pores, wrinkles, stretch marks or scars.
Tens of millions of people all over the world have acne, warts, and eczema.
Your male friends may have hair loss, athlete’s foot, or jock itch; your female friends may complain of large pores, stretch marks, and “zits.” And almost all adult women have cellulite!
Your children will have impetigo, diaper rash, ringworm, acne, warts, cradle cap, birthmarks, and insect bites.
Your parents will develop dry skin, wrinkles, skin tumors, leg ulcers, and shingles.
And how many of you are plagued with canker sores? Rectal itch? What about the more than eight million Americans who have psoriasis? And the countless millions who are frustrated by eczema?
No one can escape.
WHAT THIS BOOK CAN DO FOR YOU
In the following pages you’ll learn about a few dozen conditions that commonly affect the skin, hair, and nails. Many of them are not diseases in the sense that they cause some bodily dysfunction, but they are important enough to affect your general well being and psychological health. You’ll learn something about the causes and symptoms of these disorders and the different methods doctors use to treat them.
Please understand there is no magic in the treatment of skin disease. The skin, like every other organ, can develop “instant” maladies – maladies that may take weeks or months to heal or improve. The sunburn that develops in an hour, the cold sores or poison ivy dermatitis that can begin overnight, the “zits” or boils that erupt in a day, the hives that appear in minutes from aspirin or penicillin – all may take days or weeks of constant medication to get them under control.
A few of the products (or product-types) that I mention in these chapters are “over-the-counter” medications that you can purchase at your local drugstore without a doctor’s prescription. Some of these are oral medications, medications that you take by mouth. Others are “topical,” or surface, medications that you apply directly on the area you are treating.
When using any medication, follow the directions on the label or the directions that I have provided. Be careful to note any special precautions. You must realize that all people do not respond alike to every medication – local, oral, or by injection. The salve that’s so beneficial for Jason might cause Shelby to break out. The soothing lotion for Rachel might cause burning on Elizabeth’s skin. And there are some people who, unfortunately, develop an allergy (sensitivity) to almost every variety of surface medication.
If you find that a preparation, whether it is over-the-counter or prescribed by a physician, causes some unpleasant symptom, such as burning, stinging, pain, or increased itching, discontinue it at once. It could be that you are – or have become – allergic to one or more of the ingredients in it. If this occurs, try a different type or brand of medication.
Lastly, do not hesitate to see your dermatologist. This book does not intend to replace his or her expertise. Rather, it aims to help you better understand your skin and how to live in it.
For those who use the Internet, the following free websites will provided user-friendly links to a wide variety of skin problems and other medical topics.
www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin
www.onhealth.com
www.dermnet.org.nz
www.mayohealth.org
www.aad.org
www.healthfinder.gov
www.quackwatch.com
RECAP
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