Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1949-07-29

others, where the protection
quite thin and delicate
The skin also carries the
hair. In some animals hair is
important as protection, but
in man it has deteriorated to
more or less of a decoration.
If it should happen to occur
on parts of the body that
don't SUI the fashion or our
tastes of che moment, we go
to considerable effort to get
rid of it. If it should be absent
from those parts of the body
where we consider it desir-
able, we spend a great deal
of time and money trying to
grow hair to meet the de-
mands of our current social
custom.
First Line OF Defense
To understand proper care OF
the skin and some of the things
that 60 wrong with the skin that
might require the special care OF
a physician, it is necessary to
have some idea of its structure
Our skin is thick. 1t isn't just a
surface. 1t is an organ varying
from "a to ss of an inch thick.
Some idea of its thickness is
indicated by the fact that If
nan skin were tanned into
Hher it would have very much
the appearance of buckskin. AL
though the skin appears smooth,
1t is pitted with countless small
depYsssions. T hese provi d e
channels for the hair shafts and
outlets for the sebaceous or oil
glands that lubricate the skin
and hair and the sweat glands
that secrete watery solution
of various salts. The skin also
has in it little muscles attached
to the hair follicles. When they
contract they cause the hair to
stand erect and at the same time
squeeze the little oil glands so
the oil is extruded on the sur
face. The skin also contains a
good many blood vessels. Its
nerves end in little sense organs
that provide us with a sense of
olch, heat, cold and pain.
The skin and the mucous
membranes, which are its con-
tinuation on the inter-surfaceS
of the body, are literally an
iron curtain defending us from
the invasion of countless bac-
terra. In fact, every human be-
ing is an island in an atmos-
pheric ocean which is inhabited
by an enormous n u m b of
microscopic plants and animals,
popularity called germs. The vast
majority of these parasitic non
paying guests inhabit the outer
most horney layer of the skin.
Here they are kept at a con-
tinous ggle to survive.
Normally the outer surface of
the skin is constantly being rub
bed off, or washed off, or re-
Aved in other ways to be re-
ced by new layers that grow
up from underneath. Every time
a family of bacteria becomes
well entrenched, they and their
homes disappear into the air or
down the sink and the few rela-
tives left behind must start all
over again. Just what function
these germs perform is not clear.
They just have some purpose
or the processes of nature would
do away with them completely.
U n d e ordinary circumstances
their presence is unimportant
But under abnormal circum-
stances their presence is very
important. Any irritation to the
skin, any break in the surface,
or any change in the function
of the skin, up-sets the delicate
balance between the body and
the bacteria attempting to in
made the body and allows them
to enter. When bacteria enter
the skin we may have anything
from a minor pimple, an i'm
petigo, a boil, carbuncle or
that general streptococci infec-
tion of the whole skin called
erysipelas. The most common
bacteria are the staphylococci
and streptococci, though one is
likely to find dozens of differ
ent kinds of bacteria someplace
on the surface of the body.
Impetigo And Acne
The most common pus infec-
ton of the skin is impetigo. IT
commonly affects children. 1T
is extremely contagious and is
an infection of the skin which
destroys the surface layers. 1T
is characterized by a red, tender,
weeping area, covered by a.
ick, sticky scab which looks
Ike it had been pasted on. In
very small babies this disease is
very serious, sometimes fatal. In
older youngsters it is quite in
convenient but not so serious.
When it starts in a group of
children, it travels like wild fire
because it is passed from child
to child, not only by personal
contact on the playground, but
by the books, pencils, pens, play
ground equipment and o t h
things handled hV children in |