Treating atopic dermatitis (AD) by adding bleach to your bathwater may sound like an old wives’ tale. After all, dermatologists recommend gentle, fragrance-free products for their patients with AD. Bleach hardly falls into this category. A bleach bath, however, may be exactly what your dermatologist orders. Dermatologists have been prescribing dilute bleach baths for more than 20 years to patients with AD who get frequent skin infections caused by staph. These patients seem to benefit from soaking in a bath that contains a very small amount of bleach — about 4 ounces of bleach added to 40 gallons of water. Regular short soaks seem to reduce staph infections. With fewer staph infections, these patients appear to have less severe AD. At least, this is what dermatologists have long suspected, but studies never confirmed this belief. To collect scientific data about this low-cost, easy-to-use treatment, dermatologists conducted a 2-year study. This study looked at whether taking dilute bleach baths could reduce staph infections in children with AD. 
Monday, August 31, 2009
Bleach Baths May Help Control Atopic Dermatitis
Treating atopic dermatitis (AD) by adding bleach to your bathwater may sound like an old wives’ tale. After all, dermatologists recommend gentle, fragrance-free products for their patients with AD. Bleach hardly falls into this category. A bleach bath, however, may be exactly what your dermatologist orders. Dermatologists have been prescribing dilute bleach baths for more than 20 years to patients with AD who get frequent skin infections caused by staph. These patients seem to benefit from soaking in a bath that contains a very small amount of bleach — about 4 ounces of bleach added to 40 gallons of water. Regular short soaks seem to reduce staph infections. With fewer staph infections, these patients appear to have less severe AD. At least, this is what dermatologists have long suspected, but studies never confirmed this belief. To collect scientific data about this low-cost, easy-to-use treatment, dermatologists conducted a 2-year study. This study looked at whether taking dilute bleach baths could reduce staph infections in children with AD. 
SKIN DISORDERS
The skin is subject to various problems - blemishes, infections and growth due to internal or external causes. Some of the skin disorders are
It occurs equally among men and women
Lesion - Change in tissue formation.
Papule - A firm raised lesion
Pustule - Similar to papule but contains puss.
Seborrhea - Excessive secretion of disturbed quantity of sebum is collected upon the skin in the form of oily coating. This is known as seborrhea. Some times a burning sensation is felt
White heads - These are caused by pores getting clogged with hardened oil. Here the pores are not open. They therefore show up as tiny white pearly lumps beneath the surface of the skin. They usually form on oily skin.
Black heads - In this case the pores are open and clogged sebum is exposed to the air. Oxidation takes place turning it black in colour.
Acne - This is one of the most common skin disorders which primarily affects the adolescents as it can be caused by increase of sex hormones which takes place during puberty. This imbalance of sex hormones causes the sebaceous glands to secrete more sebum (Sebum is a semi-fluid oily substance which lubricates the skin). The pores of the skin enlarge and get blocked with hardened sebum. This result in black heads and pimples. Some of these develop into pustule which rupture and spread infection. Both men and women are affected by acne, but young men are more likely to have more severe, longer lasting forms of acne.
Acne should never be neglected as it causes extensive scarring. Clinical and professional treatment is necessary.
It occurs equally among men and women
Lesion - Change in tissue formation.
Papule - A firm raised lesion
Pustule - Similar to papule but contains puss.
Seborrhea - Excessive secretion of disturbed quantity of sebum is collected upon the skin in the form of oily coating. This is known as seborrhea. Some times a burning sensation is felt
White heads - These are caused by pores getting clogged with hardened oil. Here the pores are not open. They therefore show up as tiny white pearly lumps beneath the surface of the skin. They usually form on oily skin.
Black heads - In this case the pores are open and clogged sebum is exposed to the air. Oxidation takes place turning it black in colour.
Acne - This is one of the most common skin disorders which primarily affects the adolescents as it can be caused by increase of sex hormones which takes place during puberty. This imbalance of sex hormones causes the sebaceous glands to secrete more sebum (Sebum is a semi-fluid oily substance which lubricates the skin). The pores of the skin enlarge and get blocked with hardened sebum. This result in black heads and pimples. Some of these develop into pustule which rupture and spread infection. Both men and women are affected by acne, but young men are more likely to have more severe, longer lasting forms of acne.
Acne should never be neglected as it causes extensive scarring. Clinical and professional treatment is necessary.
Slim End Less
A girlfriend of mine has stuck to this eating regime for several months - she has had the flu twice, her once lush hair is brittle and she is pale as a ghost. But it works, she says, because her jeans have dropped a size.We are so bedazzled by celebrity that women's magazines spend their lives telling us about celebrity faddish diets that allegedly work. They cite Cameron Diaz (apparently nothing white passes her lips), Jennifer Aniston (lives on the smell of a non-oily rag and works out three hours a day) and now our very own Magda Szubanski (Jenny Craig ambassador).
Magda looks fabulous but the Jenny Craig way is another trap. Pre-packaged meals work for three months or so and then the taste gets you down. The diet juggernaut has introduced recipes to - wait for it - prepare your own food. The heart of the diet, however, remains the microwaved wonders of Ms Craig.
I am now on a sensible eating plan. I have been persuaded that alcohol's calories are empty ones (boo) and I am exercising regularly. I feel good. This is the only regime that works.
The Prime Minister's taskforce will be lobbied heavily by the faddists in coming months. They will all come out of the woodwork, desperate to maintain their grip on our collective waistlines.
The slim bottom line is, though, that effective weight loss takes time and should never, ever involve a "diet". That word should be banned forever.
weight loss solutions
These are all as idiotic as they sound. They do not represent balance. They are not sensible eating plans. They involve extreme dieting that is painful, joyless and often harmful.
My radio colleague, comedian Mikey Robins, remembers embarking on the pure protein kick when he weighed 155kg. He was morbidly obese and was led to believe by yet another so-called weight loss expert that eating only protein was the answer.
We all went on it together - his wife, two other colleagues and me. We shed buckets of weight in a short period - eating only a boiled egg and slivers of turkey each day will do that for you.
Robins remembers with great mirth the constipation that ensued. "Had to scoop the mean little buggers out with a spoon," he says. An ugly thought, but true all the same.
He had gastric banding after the weight piled back on the moment he smelled carbs again. He is now a healthy 100kg, eats well but not excessively and exercises four times a week.
Lemon Detox is another stroke of genius. For $100, you buy the syrupy juice, cayenne pepper and lemons. You are told to have this mixed together as much as six times a day. You are starving, you lose weight rapidly and then you decide to have a steak. Watch out scales!
My favourites are the current crop of Celebrity Slim types of diets. These involve substituting at least one meal a day with a protein shake or a powdered pure protein soup. The Biggest Loser has a similar brand, as do several pharmacy chains.
I MAY not be normal, but I run around all day like the proverbial blue-bottomed fly. To give up a single meal and replace it with a shake makes me feel weak.
My radio colleague, comedian Mikey Robins, remembers embarking on the pure protein kick when he weighed 155kg. He was morbidly obese and was led to believe by yet another so-called weight loss expert that eating only protein was the answer.
We all went on it together - his wife, two other colleagues and me. We shed buckets of weight in a short period - eating only a boiled egg and slivers of turkey each day will do that for you.
Robins remembers with great mirth the constipation that ensued. "Had to scoop the mean little buggers out with a spoon," he says. An ugly thought, but true all the same.
He had gastric banding after the weight piled back on the moment he smelled carbs again. He is now a healthy 100kg, eats well but not excessively and exercises four times a week.
Lemon Detox is another stroke of genius. For $100, you buy the syrupy juice, cayenne pepper and lemons. You are told to have this mixed together as much as six times a day. You are starving, you lose weight rapidly and then you decide to have a steak. Watch out scales!
My favourites are the current crop of Celebrity Slim types of diets. These involve substituting at least one meal a day with a protein shake or a powdered pure protein soup. The Biggest Loser has a similar brand, as do several pharmacy chains.
I MAY not be normal, but I run around all day like the proverbial blue-bottomed fly. To give up a single meal and replace it with a shake makes me feel weak.
Slim pickings among endless weight loss programs
I HAVE not had a drink for 10 days. I am following a nutritionist's eating regime (not allowed to call it a diet) and I have lost 3kg.
Until my sensible guru came along last month, I had tried just about every diet available to mankind - sorry womankind. Women are generally the ones stupid enough to follow the faddish, quirky, extreme and stupid so-called miracle diets thrown at us from everywhere, every day of the year.
The Rudd Government finally got its head out of the climate change quagmire this week to announce it is really going to change the world - it has set up a taskforce to regulate the weight loss industry so that the charlatans might finally get hung, drawn and quartered for the damage they have done to the nation's collective self-esteem over many decades.
Let me start at the beginning of my journey. It is, I fear, not unlike many others who have followed a similar path.
At the age of about 18, someone persuaded me I was fat. When I look back whimsically at the photographs, I realise they were wrong. No matter.
I embarked on a diet roller coaster that has lasted 30 years and included the Scarsdale (only mince for three days, followed by cabbage for the same period followed by boiled eggs), the cabbage soup diet, the Israeli, the grapefruit, the pure protein, the lemon detox, Tai Slim and Celebrity Slim.
Until my sensible guru came along last month, I had tried just about every diet available to mankind - sorry womankind. Women are generally the ones stupid enough to follow the faddish, quirky, extreme and stupid so-called miracle diets thrown at us from everywhere, every day of the year.
The Rudd Government finally got its head out of the climate change quagmire this week to announce it is really going to change the world - it has set up a taskforce to regulate the weight loss industry so that the charlatans might finally get hung, drawn and quartered for the damage they have done to the nation's collective self-esteem over many decades.
Let me start at the beginning of my journey. It is, I fear, not unlike many others who have followed a similar path.
At the age of about 18, someone persuaded me I was fat. When I look back whimsically at the photographs, I realise they were wrong. No matter.
I embarked on a diet roller coaster that has lasted 30 years and included the Scarsdale (only mince for three days, followed by cabbage for the same period followed by boiled eggs), the cabbage soup diet, the Israeli, the grapefruit, the pure protein, the lemon detox, Tai Slim and Celebrity Slim.
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