Skimming the Surface of Troublesome Skin
Today we’re sharing tidbits we gleaned from a browse in a medical library. We could discuss “Suffering and the Dialectical Self in Buddhism and Relational Psychoanalysis,” a snappy-sounding article from the American Journal of Psychoanalysis, but we’re feeling kind. Instead, here are snippets from Cutis, a dermatology journal.
The covers of Cutis aren’t cute: They tend to feature skin with a lunar-crater look. In one issue, we read about a man who was using tretinoin (the active ingredient of Retin-A cream) when he developed a super-rare “sticky skin” that no amount of washing could cure. Doctors studying his skin found that its structure--who knows why--had changed, causing the stickiness. (It went back to normal when he gave up the cream.)
The same issue features “Smoking: An Ugly Habit,” by dermatologist Dr. George Keough. Want people to quit? Well, says Keough, don’t just talk about lung cancer and heart attacks. Tell ‘em what smoking does to skin!
It thins the skin. Turns it yellow. Riddles it with wrinkles, especially around the mouth. (At Keough’s high school reunion, “[t]he people I remember having the most mature look about them--the smokers, in other words--now had dry wrinkly, skin,” he says.)
Because many of us care more about looks than health, we’ll more likely listen to an “ugly” than a “dangerous” message, reckons Keough. Really? Are we nuts? Yes we are. No news there.
What’s in a Drug Name? More Than You’d Think
American Druggist and Med Ad News were the next two publications we turned to. Inside, we learned about how drugs get names. We learned more from Ira Bachrach, president of the aptly named NameLab Inc., which named Renova, Nix head lice lotion and other nondrug items, such as the Compaq computer.
Names matter, says Bachrach. Prescription drugs should ideally contain “long” letters (such as T or P, versus N or M) so the pharmacist can decipher the doctor’s messy writing. And when drug names are similar, pharmacists more often make mistakes.
But names matter most when targeting the consumer. And a lot of thought goes into them.
For instance, “Viagra” sounds good in many languages (great for international marketing), isn’t too male-sounding (there’s a potential female market too), and depicts a lifestyle instead of a particular drug action, capturing “feelings of vigor, power, optimism and energy,” Med Ad News says.
“Renova” means “renew,” also sounds great in lots of languages, is medical enough for doctors and pretty-sounding enough to be a cosmetic--which won’t hurt if it ever becomes an over-the-counter product.
You can get unlucky with a name. Ayds, a dieting candy, didn’t survive the AIDS epidemic, Bachrach says. And you can pack a lot into a name, he says: “Nix” the head louse shampoo, sounded similar to its rival, Rid, so it reassured consumers. Nix means “no.” And “nit” is a word for louse eggs. Most elegant.
Art of Malingering Brought to Light
Last week, we discovered that scientists are writing scholarly papers on the art of malingering--in fact, we found 24 papers on the subject. One paper cautioned doctors against inappropriately labeling certain patients as malingerers. Most of the others featured malingerer detection.
In one study, the famous Rorschach inkblot test was done on people with real post-traumatic stress disorder and fakers. The fakers gave wildly exaggerated responses in the test--which could help catch them in the clinic.
In another study, researchers reported on how computers can help in the battle against malingering. Fakers of balance disorders beware: The way your body sways during tasks can now be measured, digitally number-crunched, and can expose you.
Finally, earlier studies reported that psychologists are poor at distinguishing malingerers from people diagnosed as suffering from insanity. But now a study at a federal correction institute finds psychologists can do this quite well.