Common Skin Problems- SKIN SPOTS AND FRECKLES - EXCESSIVE PERSPIRATION -

COMMON SKIN PROBLEMS

Skin variations among individuals-for example, in the amount of pigment, number of sweat and lubricating glands-can be considerable. Sometimes extremes of these give rise to problems.

SKIN SPOTS AND FRECKLES

 The less pigment the skin contains, the lighter the color. Those rare people who have virtually no pigment are called albinos. Much more common are less extreme cases of people with skins that tend to produce relatively little pigment; for them, sunburn must be guarded against. Many individuals have skins that freckle on exposure to the sun. If you happen to be a freckler who must spend considerable time in the sun, expose your skin as little as possible. A heavy suntan lotion or face powder will help. Some lotions contain perfume oil which may cause dark brown spots to develop, and so you may find it necessary to use a lotion without perfume. Avoid "freckle removers.

 Any preparation strong enough to be effective may produce inflammation unless used under medical supervision, the best thing to do for freckles are covering them with face powder, or, if necessary, with a preparation -Covermark. If the freckles are so disfiguring as to present a very real problem no other- wise solvable, it is best to ask your physician to refer you to a dermatologist or a skin clinic for a trial of more intensive treatment. What holds for freckles does, too, for "liver spots"-marks that may occur in dark-skinned people, and actually have nothing to do with the liver but are simply increases in pigmentation. White areas that appear on the skin are usually due to loss of pigment in specific areas (vitiligo). If the areas are conspicuous, the best thing to do about them is to cover them-and, certainly, to avoid tanning, which makes them more conspicuous.

EXCESSIVE PERSPIRATION

While this in some cases may be due to the menopause or to actual poor health-night sweats, for example, are characteristic of some diseases-excessive perspiration is not uncommon in people in excellent health. If you're in good health and perspire excessively, especially under the arms, you can probably control it with a commercial antiperspirant-deodorant preparation of your choice. A common ingredient in such preparations is aluminum chloride, which is usually perfectly safe, unless you happen to be allergic or sensitive to the chemical. It is always wise to test any preparation cautiously a few times, using very little, until you are certain it is all right for you. If it is not, if repeated applications produce irritation, stop using it. Deodorants, as already noted, mask odor but do not check perspiration. Antiperspirants, commonly combined with deodorants, tend to reduce the amount of perspiration. It does no harm to check perspiration in the armpits, hands or feet, since the rest of the skin is large enough to do the work of sweating. But never apply an antiperspirant preparation to the entire body.