Omaha daily bee., 1921-05-09
CONCERNING SKIN
TROURI.ES

Word has been spread around that
hives is due to certain peculiar pois-
ons until nearly everybody has heard
about 1t. There are people to whom
it is still news, but not to the ma
jority. They know, furthermore.
that the cause Is sopie food in most
cases; that the food responsible is
something which is wholesome to
most people. Therefore they are Pc
culiar in that the food poisops them
and the food itself IL not peculiar.
Most Of them know that sometimes
hives Is not due to u food, but is
due to a pollen or the secretion of
bacteria or to the dandruff from
some animal.
They know that the cause of the
trouble can be discovered by easily
applied, simple, harmless skin tests.
and that any druggist can order the
materials required to make the skin
tests. They know that II, for in
stance, a man has discovered that
eating buckwheat gives him hives
he can either refuse to eat buck
wheat cakes or he can take the
! trouble and go to the expense OF
having himself desensitiged, A later
suggestion is that five to seven grains
Of peptone taken one hour before
eating will prevent hives. All these
are fairly well known facts.
But there are other annoying dis
eases about which the same state
,nents hold true, but concerning
which not so many people have been
informed. Drs. EnGman and Wan
der found that rs per cent of the
cases OF infantile eczemas they ex-
amined were due to protein sensi-
tization--the same group of causes
as is responsible for hives.
Infantile eczema goes by many
different names -- letter, milk cap,
rheum, being few of the list. II
a baby gets an eruption on its face
or head 1t is almost certain the foou
Is at fault. The milk may be too
rich, too much cream, too much but
ter, or the trouble may be with tho
sugars in the milk or the cereals fed
or to eggs. Some babies will not get
well of the letter until the family
cat is sent on a vacation. Simple
skin tests will show the cause. In
general, the remedy consists in
changing the diet.
In their investigations almost one
half-38 per cent--of that great
RIdD DIX vi Shll tloubito Ne'iich
eczema ore due to the same group
of causes
In another investigation. by DR..
Ramirez, it was found that 3S per
cent were due to protein sensitiza-
ton. Some were caused by foods.
some by poilens, and some by bac-
terra.
In searching for the cause it is
necessary to know good deal about
the person. For instance, one wom-
an had an eczema which could not
be cured at home. They took her
to the hospital and she got well
quickly, but the eruption came back
when she went home. When she
consented to give up pet guinea pig
she wes quickly cured and she stayed
cured.
SO many cases Of so-caled ecze-
ma results from work poisons. Es'
pecially is this true Of eczema of the
hands. DR.. Lane tells of a dentist
who had eczema of his hands due to
the use of prncain in his work. DIR,
Nook reported cases due to the use
of apothesine, again by dentists, and
Drs. Ormsby and Mitchell repor.
other dentists who got eczema from
using novocaine. Quinine eezemas
have long been known.
Men who work in certain kinds Of
woods are very apt to develop ecze-
ma because the wood dust is pois-
onous to them. In fact, if we in
clude these occupational eruptions
in the grab bag, called eczema, we