Healthoughts

Healthoughts compiled by Jon Nalick.
Illustrations by Diane Bigda.

Wart Did You Say?

While common warts usually vanish without treatment, few people enjoy waiting the months—or even years—it takes for them to disappear, says dermatologist Han Lee, M.D.

That explains, in part, the wide range of methods people have devised for getting rid of warts. A short list of useful treatments includes freezing them with liquid nitrogen, burning them with lasers, coating them with acidic ointments, scouring them with pumice stones and even covering them with duct tape, Lee says.

“The drawback is that while all of these methods work, none of them work extremely well,” she says. Consequently, whatever treatment is used must be repeated many times in most cases because “there is no quick cure.”

A form of the human papilloma virus, which is spread by contact, causes warts when it enters the skin, usually through a cut. The virus infects cells of the epidermis and disrupts the skin’s normal cycle, causing the rough, raised bumps characteristic of warts.

Most treatments aim to remove as much of the infected tissue as possible and let the immune system finish the job. As a result, the treatment of choice really depends on what is most convenient for the individual patient or physician.

Scarred Straight

“Scar-healing” adhesive bandages now on the market are functionally identical to bandages used for that purpose in hospitals—and they work very well, a USC plastic surgeon says.

Susan Downey, M.D., associate professor of clinical surgery, says the thin plastic strips work by applying pressure to scars, realigning the snarled collagen fibers responsible for the raised and thickened tissue. The strips work best on recent scars—ones that still blanch when pressed—and can cause them to fade and flatten noticeably over a period of about six to eight weeks.

“The results can be quite dramatic,” Downey says.

Another advantage of the bandages is that they provide a full sunscreen, shielding the scar from ultraviolet light that could darken it significantly.

She says that the exact mechanism that causes the scars to shrink and fade is unknown, although it may have something to do with the pressure reducing the amount of oxygen reaching the area.

Downey says that the strips alone are often enough to heal scars, although massage is also known to assist in the healing process.

Mercury Rising

In the age of disposable and digital thermometers, it is hard to believe that many people still use mercury-filled ones to check a child’s temperature.

After all, a probe fashioned from a brittle tube of glass, filled with poison and placed in a child’s mouth like a toxic lollipop—was this ever a good idea?

Suzanne Roberts, M.D., assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, says anyone still using a mercury thermometer should probably upgrade to one that is quicker, easier to use and doesn’t harm the environment.

“Mercury ones are still made, but they have really fallen out of favor because of mercury toxicity,” she says. “Besides, the newer ones, like those that take temperatures inside a child’s ear, are noninvasive and much more convenient. The kids don’t seem to mind them.”

She also recommends that old mercury thermometers be disposed of properly at a hazardous materials collection point and not simply thrown into the trash.

The newer kinds of thermometers are accurate enough to be used in hospitals, but for very young children—those three months and younger—rectal digital thermometers provide the most accurate measure, Roberts says. Also, for children under seven months old, ear-reading digital thermometers are not very accurate.

Roberts says that parents should consider temperature readings higher than 100.4 degrees as a fever, but also adds that when a thermometer is not available, there is still a cheap, easy and effective way to get a good idea of a child’s temperature: “Most parents still just use their hands.”

soapy sales

Even though store shelves are filled with antibacterial soaps and gels, infectious disease experts say plain old soap is really all most people need in their homes.

Jan Geiseler, M.D., associate professor of clinical medicine and chair of the Infectious Disease Control Committee for USC University Hospital, says, “Plain soap doesn’t kill any pathogens, but it is effective because it removes them from the hands.”<

Antibacterial soaps are commonly used by hospitals as an added level of protection against the spread of germs, but frequent hand-washing often triggers skin irritation, Geiseler says. As a result, many hospital workers have switched to new, alcohol-based gels that kill pathogens on contact but also dry quickly and with less skin irritation.

Geiseler emphasizes that paying for antibacterial soaps when they are unneeded makes little sense. Every additional chemical in soap increases the chances of a skin reaction.

“For the average person, regular soap is perfectly adequate,” Geiseler says. “You would only recommend the use of antibacterial soaps or gels for people whose immune systems are weakened by medication or illness.”