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  • Article

When skin bleaching goes wrong

Warnings about permanent health damage don’t deter those using skin-bleaching products for years on end. Read the story of one woman who suffered from liver failure after years of striving to be paler.

  • Article

The case for safe skin bleaching

Skin bleaching tends to attract a negative press for a whole host of reasons. But when used to treat medical problems, its positive side becomes clear.

  • Article

How your hairdresser could save your life

Barbers and hairdressers have a unique view of us – one that means they can spot potentially dangerous health problems. Find out how buzzcuts can lead to blood-pressure checks, and dip-dyes show the way to the dermatologist.

  • Article

Bleeding healthy

For thousands of years, and in many different cultures, people have practised bloodletting for health and medical reasons. Julia Nurse explains where and when bleeding was used, how it was done, and why.

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Images

  • Hyperkeratosis of the heel. Hyperkeratosis describes a thickening of the outer layer of the skin caused by abnormally increased amounts of the protein keratin which normally functions to protect the skin.
  • Anne-Marie Hérig, a girl with a skin abnormality; the conjoined twins Judith and Hélène; below, an infant with one central eye. Coloured etching by N.E. Lerouge after J. de Sève.
  • A girl suffering from a skin disease, identified as multiple fibroma: side and posterior view. Engraving, 1805.
  • Stony covering of the skin.
  • New species of man ... : now exhibiting at Mr. Laxton's Rooms, no.23, New Bond Street : this young man is 30 years of age, covered with scales, with the exception of the face, soles of the feet, and palms of the hand, which are like those of any other man.
  • An extraordinary freak of nature, or, a man encrusted with a barnacle or stone-like skin.
  • A hard case : there is now exhibiting in South Castle-street a female, a native of Holland, whose body, with the exception of the face and bust, is encrusted with a hard substance, which grows upon and completely covers the skin. This lady is 37 years of age ... Liverpool Albion.
  • A hard case : there is now exhibiting in South Castle-street a female, a native of Holland, whose body, with the exception of the face and bust, is encrusted with a hard substance, which grows upon and completely covers the skin. This lady is 37 years of age ... Liverpool Albion.
  • Wonderful production of nature : the greatest human curiosity! Now in existence, Master Thomas Jones, the Cambrian Porcupine Youth!! ... is now exhibiting, for a short time, at the Cosmorama Rooms, 209 Regent Street.
  • [Elephantiasis of the legs] : post card.
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