Adolescent Skin Troubles
There is hardly a more disturbing condition to the adolescent boy or girl than acne or pimples. Not that the blemishes are extremely painful or dangerous, but they affect the appearance at an age when appearance seems so important socially to the maturing person.
Boys and girls with acne have tried almost anything to get rid of this disease. In many cases, however, there seemed to be little that could be done but keep the skin clean and free from infection and wait for the acne to pass away at maturity. We now have reports that hormones and antibiotics have shown they can relieve some severe cases of acne.
ACNE IS A disorder of the oil glands of the skin, known as the sebaceous glands. It is believed that an excessive amount of male hormone is the most important underlying cause of the disease. Excess male hormone may occur in girls as well as boys, as the adrenal gland produces male hormone in the female. It is believed that the male hormone disturbs the body’s usage of carbohydrates and fats, which causes a local infection of the | sebaceous glands. The face, shoulders, chest, and back are the most frequent sites for acne. The blemishes first consist of black heads and later little red swellings with pus in them. RECENTLY, A new attempt was i made to treat severe acne without the use of X-rays, since X-ray treatments help acne but sometime although not very often. Leave some scarring.
Adolescents with a large number of abscess lesions from acne were given heavy doses of antibiotic drugs. The treatment also included creams containing female hormone. These were applied directly on the acne lesions. The hormone cream was especially beneficial in cases that had not improved from other means of treatment and those that were severe. ALONG WITH the hormone treatment, the boys and girls also followed the usual methods, including a diet devoid of chocolate, nuts, ice cream, egg yolk and cheese, with little fatty foods and sweets until the condition cleared up.
In addition to such a diet, any deficiency, such as anemia or thyroid deficiency, was, of course, corrected. Treatment with female hormone and antibiotic drugs, it is hoped, will definitely improve the greater part of severe acne cases. Of course, treatment of this type must always be carried out under the doctor’s directions.
