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Why Acne is NOT a Modern Day Disease
Acne is sometimes considered a mainly recent disease,
brought on by dirt invading the skin as a result of pollution from modern
day factories and workplaces, emissions from railway and and road traffic,
also because we eat more unnatural ingredients in heavily spiced and
processed foods than our ancestors consumed.
In fact acne is not a modern disease at all as can be
seen from a wealth of articles and books, mainly from eminent doctors and
physicians, published from ancient to modern times.
In 1825, for example, an article in The Medical Recorder describes acne as
‘Pimples on the Face’ and further defined as:
“A number of little hard, inflamed tubercles (acne simplex), interspersed
with minute black specks (acne punctata), produced by the sebaceous matter
filling the orifices of the follicles, form this disease. They proceed
gradually and at different times to suppuration. … Small pearl-like
tubercles are sometimes observed in the skin, produced by the deficiency
of an opening by which the fluid can be discharged. They seldom attain the
size of a wart, rarely suppurate, and generally disappear by absorption.
With regard to the treatment of pimples on the face,
frequent bathing, and gentle friction of the parts with warm water and
soap, are the best local remedies; repellents, as lead water, do no good.
The inflammation is sometimes connected with disorder of the stomach in
its most common form, in young people between the ages of 18 and 25.”
Of treatment (do not try this at home!) the doctor says: “I have removed
it by giving half a grain of calomel, and a quarter of a grain of blue
vitriol, thrice a day. The tubercles in a few days
disappear, leaving only a brown mark.”
Acne, then, was thought to be associated with misuse of alcohol, as Mr.
Plumbe says in The Medical Recorder: “When it attacks the nose in
old drunkards, or those addicted to the pleasures of the table, sometimes
three or four follicles are inflamed, which being repeated by continued
excesses, the nose acquires a red, swollen, and tuberculated appearance.
If called early, the puncture of the lancet discharges the matter, and
moderate diet, with purgatives, confirms the cure. Friction upon the nose,
by means of soft brushes, and soap and water, diminishes the swelling and
redness, and improves its appearance.”
Outlines of Human Pathology by Herbert Mayo in 1835, defines acne as
“Chronic inflammation of the sebaceous follicles, common in youth and
manhood, characterized by isolated acuminated pustules, most usually
developed on the shoulders, sternal and scapular regions, the skin of
which looks dense and unctuous, and more rarely on the face. These
pustules are succeeded by livid or violet-coloured spots, by tuberculated
indurations of the same or of a milky white hue, almost always
intermingled with the accumulations of sebaceous matter with black points,
vulgarly called worms, and with follicular enlargements.”
All information at this
site is provided in good faith and is researched to the best of our
ability and knowledge. No information provided at this site is
intended at definitive and does not seek to replace advice available from
qualified doctors, lawyers and other appropriate professional advisors. |
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