Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Skin health can be used to predict a number of seemingly unconnected factors

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 101 posts

Re: Skin health can be used to predict a number of seemingly unconnected factors

#71

Post by manmal »

landemva wrote: post #36
manmal wrote: post #24

I’ve been applying DIY 20% ascorbic acid solution on my face for a few weeks, and am seeing some benefits already. Photoaging and spots seem to revert a bit, and there is definitely some lightening (as expected [1]). According to some Reddit posts, it takes a few months until the improved collagen synthesis becomes noticeable. Vitamin C serums are quite expensive because ascorbic acid oxidizes quickly, and other form…

Interesting, though why would a person want to do this skin depigmentation? Is it like people dying their hair color?

Aging skin usually accumulates pigmentation abnormalities, like hyper- and hypopigmentation. Ascorbic acid might be able to help both. That’s not exclusive to Caucasian skin types btw.

In my case, I‘m just taking it as a sign that it’s working, as pigmentation is only one of the areas AA affects.

Re: Skin health can be used to predict a number of seemingly unconnected factors

#72

Post by giardini »

gumby wrote: post #67
dredmorbius wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Historically the notions of cleanliness and health are excpetionally strongly aligned with virtue, and filth, disease, ugliness, and disability with sin or evil. This appears across a large range of Eurasian cultures that I'm aware of, and quite probably even more widely elsewhere (though I'm less aware of those). Even such attributes as handedness can be ascribed to virtue or sin, as with, well, sinister , literally…

Yeah, I believe that the absurd “virgin” obsession in some cultures is an archaic holdover to try to avoid STDs.

gumby says >"I believe that the absurd “virgin” obsession in some cultures is an archaic holdover to try to avoid STDs."

No shit, Sherlock!8-)) But to characterise this as an "absurd ...obsession" is wrongheaded.

Of course people don't want STDs!

STDs for the most part killed people (syphilis, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, et al). Only in the last century have we had antibiotics and only in the last 50 years antivirals. Were there a major war supplies of those drugs, along with the birth control pill, would dwindle or vanish.

STDs are a scourge b/c we have nothing to make them go away permanently. Maybe someday we will, but until then being a "virgin" has certain very real advantages.

Re: Skin health can be used to predict a number of seemingly unconnected factors

#73

Post by dredmorbius »

giardini wrote: post #72
gumby wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I believe that the absurd “virgin” obsession in some cultures is an archaic holdover to try to avoid STDs.

gumby says >"I believe that the absurd “virgin” obsession in some cultures is an archaic holdover to try to avoid STDs." No shit, Sherlock!8-)) But to characterise this as an "absurd ...obsession" is wrongheaded. Of course people don't want STDs! STDs for the most part killed people (syphilis, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, et al). Only in the last century have we had antibiotics and only in the last 50 years antivirals. Wer…

There's that nagging little issue that female virginity is far easier to reasonably validate than male virginity.

Whilst the disease transmission risks are not similarly asymmetric.

Re: Skin health can be used to predict a number of seemingly unconnected factors

#74

Post by yMEyUyNE1 »

hereforthecake2 wrote: post #37
linsomniac wrote: post #35

My wife said one of the most valuable things she learned in nursing school is: I keep a picture of a healthy patient in my head, and when I look at a new patient I zero in on how they look different from a healthy patient. I've often thought about that and used similar mechanisms in my tech work.

> I've often thought about that and used similar mechanisms in my tech work. This made me laugh because I can't for the life of me figure out what this means. Can you elaborate? Sounds interesting.

Something similar to "begin with the end in mind".

Re: Skin health can be used to predict a number of seemingly unconnected factors

#75

Post by persimmiu »

dredmorbius wrote: post #61
gumby wrote: post #31

Folk history judges people by the quality of their skin (to the dismay of adolescents in particular). You see it in hollywood and in literature: the hero has clear skin while the villain is surprisingly often described as being disfigured. This could stem from a long practice of disease avoidance before modern medicine, even when no disease is relevant (a birthmark, recovered from smallpox, etc). Years ago I worked i…

Historically the notions of cleanliness and health are excpetionally strongly aligned with virtue, and filth, disease, ugliness, and disability with sin or evil. This appears across a large range of Eurasian cultures that I'm aware of, and quite probably even more widely elsewhere (though I'm less aware of those). Even such attributes as handedness can be ascribed to virtue or sin, as with, well, sinister , literally…

It may be a primal aversion to illness and its manifestations because of a natural selection favoring the best and the fittest, as anything skewing from that could pose a danger to survival. Let me be clear that I do not justify any discrimination or prejudice but I also acknowledge that there are primal urges at play and it's from this point of view that I speak, not my human own.

Re: Skin health can be used to predict a number of seemingly unconnected factors

#76

Post by persimmiu »

meristohm wrote: post #6

In late 2020 I committed to only taking cold showers. I note several upsides after nearly three years of this: - easier to forego caffeine, as cold water in the morning leaves me wide awake - easier to use less water, in part because it's so easy to get out of the shower into a warmer environment - mental health benefits, including increased confidence dealing with things I don't want to do but which are my adult dut…

I have experienced similar benefits. Some people even joked that I had a face lift, as I took that shower right before meeting them.

I started taking cold showers when the war between Russia and Ukraine made the bills go up and I could not afford to pay so much anymore. The first three days were awful to say the least. The water is freezing cold even in the summer because I think it comes from deep underground. I dreaded getting into the shower, but I had no choice. I either had to stay clean or in debt. So I went in and groaned like a monkey, cursing in between shallow breaths for a few minutes, but it became less unbearable after a while. I felt a headache, some dizziness and a general malaise afterwards. But once I got out of the shower, I stayed cool for three to four hours, actually feeling better than before.

From the fourth day on, it got easier and easier. At first, I could take a cold shower quietly with mild discomfort but later on, I could just get in right away without minding the temperature. Now I enjoy it so much that it has become an addiction and not a nightmare. It took more or less a week to get to that point.

Re: Skin health can be used to predict a number of seemingly unconnected factors

#77

Post by OfSanguineFire »

smolder wrote: post #54
cstejerean wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The linked study doesn't seem to support that "ears never stop growing" at least in the typical way one would read that sentence. > This study supports the view that as people age, their ears get larger, particularly the ear circumference, which increases on average 0.51 mm per year. This enlargement is likely associated with aging changes of collagen So they do get larger with age but not due to growing, but rather…

Do your ears hang low? Do they wobble to and fro? Can you tie them in a knot? Can you tie them in a bow? Can you throw them over your shoulder like a continental soldier? Do your ears hang low?

That song was likely not about ears at all originally, rather the well-known version is a sanitized one suitable for children’s activities.

Re: Skin health can be used to predict a number of seemingly unconnected factors

#78

Post by OfSanguineFire »

gumby wrote: post #28

The photo at the top is most likely a smoker. Increased CO in your bloodstream, and the effect of nicotine, seems to kill capillary circulation in the skin (and likely elsewhere, including the brain, kidneys). One reason folks in their 40s-60s today look so much younger than people the same age from the 80s and before is likely from the reduced prevalence of smoking. And the article mentions diabetes...which also dam…

> and the effect of nicotine

I would be surprised if nicotine alone had such deleterious effects. After all, nicotine has been used in energy drinks in Japan for years and viewed as innocuous as caffeine.

Re: Skin health can be used to predict a number of seemingly unconnected factors

#79

Post by gumby »

giardini wrote: post #72
gumby wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I believe that the absurd “virgin” obsession in some cultures is an archaic holdover to try to avoid STDs.

gumby says >"I believe that the absurd “virgin” obsession in some cultures is an archaic holdover to try to avoid STDs." No shit, Sherlock!8-)) But to characterise this as an "absurd ...obsession" is wrongheaded. Of course people don't want STDs! STDs for the most part killed people (syphilis, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, et al). Only in the last century have we had antibiotics and only in the last 50 years antivirals. Wer…

> But to characterise this as an "absurd ...obsession" is wrongheaded...[STDs bad]

Of course they are but it’s archaic and thus absurd today when they can be avoided (ubiquitous condoms) and in most cases treated.

Not to mention I like to engage in activities with others with a modicum of skill…not like I seek out novice chess or tennis players. Without the STD risk the characteristic has no benefit.

Re: Skin health can be used to predict a number of seemingly unconnected factors

#80

Post by mistrial9 »

gumby wrote: post #79
giardini wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

gumby says >"I believe that the absurd “virgin” obsession in some cultures is an archaic holdover to try to avoid STDs." No shit, Sherlock!8-)) But to characterise this as an "absurd ...obsession" is wrongheaded. Of course people don't want STDs! STDs for the most part killed people (syphilis, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, et al). Only in the last century have we had antibiotics and only in the last 50 years antivirals. Wer…

> But to characterise this as an "absurd ...obsession" is wrongheaded...[STDs bad] Of course they are but it’s archaic and thus absurd today when they can be avoided (ubiquitous condoms) and in most cases treated. Not to mention I like to engage in activities with others with a modicum of skill…not like I seek out novice chess or tennis players. Without the STD risk the characteristic has no benefit.

no - because sex has a biological cost. Many mammals have a "heat" cycle where adults become sexually active, then it goes away. Then everyone can return to survival. It is arguable that only certain niche creatures with relatively easy lives, can afford to be sexual more than that.
Post reply on HN