Skin Diseases (4)

Metabolic Diseases
SEBORRHEA.
Seborrhea is a functional disorder of the sebaceous glands, resulting in more than the normal amount of oil secretion, and characteristically giving the skin a shiny, greasy appearance, sometimes accompanied by acne. A comparatively dry form of seborrhea, characterized by accumulations of cheesy material consisting of oil mixed with dead epithelial cells and other tissue debris, may occur at any time in life.

The simple, oily form, however, is found more often during adolescent years, and especially in Negroes. It is probable that altered fat metabolism underlies the disturbed action of the glands; and, if tested, the thyroid gland is often found to be less than normally active. Acne, blackheads, oily dandruff, and seborrheic dermatitis often, but not always, accompany seborrhea. Seborrhea itself does not cause any physical discomfort and does not affect the general health. It is objectionable chiefly on account of the oily appearance of the skin.

What to Do
1. Cleanse the skin frequently with such fat solvents as soap and water, alcohol, or one of the newer detergents.
2. Take a diet low in fats, starches, and sweets.
3. Apply lotio alba to the face at bedtime.
4. In the morning, apply a powder made as follows:

Sulfur ppt. .............2|
Talcum powder.............. 28|
Mix thoroughly

5. Have a basal metabolism test made under a physician's supervision. If it shows the thyroid action is sluggish, take thyroid tablets as he may direct, but do not take them otherwise.
6. In severe or persistent cases, consult a skin specialist. He can give X-ray treatments, which are usually effective.

Miscellaneous Skin Ailments

BALDNESS, FALLING HAIR (ALOPECIA).
Loss of hair, alopecia, or baldness, may occur in patches or over the entire body. It may be caused by hormone imbalance, seborrheic dermatitis (dandruff), syphilis, or other bacterial, fungous, or virus infections. The type and time of onset of ordinary baldness, however, are largely hereditary. Baldness may also be caused by acute fevers, certain drugs or chemicals taken internally or applied to the skin surface, X-ray or other burns, disturbed action of certain glands (particularly the thyroid or pituitary), or emotional shock.

Nothing effective can be done about common baldness of a hereditary nature. Discovering the causes of other types of baldness in any individual case may be difficult. Local treatments of the scalp or hair in such cases, however, are likely to be useless until the causes are found. Some of the possible causes are diseases or abnormalities which need treatment as a protection to present or future health; therefore it is especially important that they be discovered and treated, whether or not the treatment brings about improvement in the condition of baldness.

There is some basic cause, though not always curable, which accounts for the baldness; and money spent on advertised "hair growers" is likely to be wasted unless this basic cause is found and can be corrected. In many cases finding the cause and treating it will call for a physician's attention; and even a physician may not be able to bring about much improvement.

What to Do
1. Do not expect a cure if common baldness of a hereditary nature has already developed.
2. The following program may have some value in delaying the onset or in slowing the progress of the condition:
Twice a week for oily scalps, or once a week for dry scalps, wash the scalp and hair with warm water and mild soap, rinsing and drying the hair thoroughly. Then apply a little bay rum.
. Gentle massage may help, unless the scalp is very oily.
Avoid the use of others' combs or brushes.
3. Take a diet low in fats, sweets, and starches. Supplement with vitamin A not more than 25,000 units to the tablet or capsule one tablet or capsule with breakfast each morning, and with some standard preparation of vitamin B complex.
4. If you are not sure the baldness is of the common hereditary type, have a physician make a study of the possible causes, and correct them if possible.

BEDSORE (DECUBITUS ULCER).
A bedsore is an ulceration of the skin and underlying tissue that occurs typically in debilitated patients who are confined to bed and remain in one position so long that pressure on the skin areas that bear the patient's weight deprives them of their normal blood supply. Gradually an involved area becomes dark in color, the skin breaks down, and an ulcer results. Prevention is much to be preferred, for cure is tedious and difficult.

What to Do
Prevention:
1. Turn a bed patient frequently.
2. Use padding or inflated rubber rings to diffuse the pressure of body weight, particularly over the bony prominences.
3. If the patient has edema (swollen tissues), give attention to the appropriate means of removing the edema.
4. Maintain strict cleanliness of the skin.
5. After bathing the skin, use mild stimulation, such as gentle massage with lubricating cream, or an alcohol rub, to increase blood circulation.
6. Use talcum powder and proper clothing to protect the skin from friction against the bed sheets. Treatment once a bedsore has developed:
1. Use a special air mattress designed for this purpose, in which adjacent areas are alternately inflated and deflated automatically by mechanical means.
2. Clean and dress the ulcer daily, using sterile saline solution and sterile dressings.
3. Antibiotic ointments may sometimes hasten healing.
4. Make sure that the patient is receiving a balanced, adequate diet.

CALLOUS (CALLOSITAS).
A callous is merely a patch of thickened and hardened epidermis, caused by long-continued pressure or friction. It is uncommon for a callous to be either very tender or very painful, or even to cause any marked discomfort. For a permanent cure, the cause must of course be removed.

What to Do
1. As far as possible, relieve the affected area from pressure or friction.
2. At bedtime apply a bit of the following mixture to the affected area only and cover with adhesive:

Salicylic acid ......... 3|
Lactic acid ...........3|
Flexible collodionq.s. ad ..........15|

An alternative is to apply small pads of cotton or gauze that have been dipped in 40 percent salicylic acid.
3. In the morning remove the adhesive and scrape off the softened skin tissue.
4. Continue (2) and (3) until the callous has been reduced to the thickness of normal skin.

CORN (CLAVUS).
A corn is similar to a callous in texture and has similar causes; but while a callous may be found on any one of several different parts of the skin surface, a corn is almost always on a foot, and usually on a toe, possibly on several toes. A corn is less broad than a callous, and is conical in shape with the apex of the cone directed inward. This shape accounts for the pain felt when pressure is applied to a corn. So-called "soft corns" are usually located between the toes where they are kept moist and softened by the perspiration.

What to Do
1. Wear comfortable, broad-toed, "foot-form" shoes, made of soft and pliable leather, with heels not too high.
2. Surround the corn with a felt ring or corn protector. (These can be bought in almost any drugstore.) Each day, for three to five days, apply to the corn the mixture described under Callous, "What to Do," (2). Then soak the part for fifteen minutes in warm water and try to lift or pick the corn out. If it cannot be completely removed from its bed, continue the application for a day or two longer, and then try again. (Sometimes the application of this mixture will eventually make the tissues sore, even though a corn protector is worn continually. If this happens, the treatment should be temporarily discontinued.)
3. If the above treatment does not succeed, the corn may have to be surgically removed.

FRECKLES.
Freckles are merely spots of skin in which more than the usual amount of normal pigment has developed or has been deposited. They cause no distress and do no harm, except to the appearance of the skin. In many cases they are most numerous in childhood and tend to become less numerous or to disappear completely in later years.

What to Do
1. Avoid exposure to sunlight and strong wind.
2. Small amounts of the following peeling lotion may be painted on the affected spots three times a day:

Mercuric chloride.............. |1
Camphor gum ..............2|
Salicylic acid............. 4|
Rubbing alcohol q.s. ad............ 90|

An alternative is to use 5 percent ammoniated mercury ointment, which is a good bleaching agent in this case.
3. If the skin becomes uncomfortably irritated, stop the use of the lotion and apply rose water ointment several times a day for relief.

GRAY HAIR.
Grayness of the hair is usually the natural result of aging, coming from a failure of pigment formation in the hair follicles. It may, however, be a symptom of endocrine disturbances, most often of the thyroid gland. It is known to accompany hyperthyroidism occasionally and to disappear after adequate treatment, the hair then regaining its natural color. In some cases of premature grayness, which is often familial, there are a few gray hairs in childhood, a sprinkling during adolescence, and complete grayness between the ages of twenty-five and thirty years.

While worry, overwork, grief, anxiety, and nervous strain are contributing factors in the graying of the hair, stories of overnight blanching or whitening of the hair are contrary to physiological and anatomic facts. The graying of the hair is a slow process. In some cases early graying of the hair accompanies anemia, especially pernicious anemia.

The streak of white hair on the brow which many consider attractive is sometimes congenital and permanent, but is often acquired following the disease alopecia areata. It is typical for regrowth of hair following this disease to be white at first, but it usually regains its normal color after a time.
The person who chooses to conceal grayness of the hair by using hair dyes needs to be careful. Dyes which contain silver nitrate, pyrogallic acid, or paraphenylenediamine may be dangerous to the health; and if hair dyes are to be used at all, they should first be tested for skin sensitivity.

What to Do
1. Try to determine the causes for the graying of your hair. Some of these may possibly be removed or corrected.
2. Do not waste time or money on any so-called "anti-gray-hair" vitamins. Calcium pantothenate, formerly marketed in this way, is use¬less for adult humans, and is quite unlikely to be needed for children.

HAIR, SUPERFLUOUS (HYPERTRICHOSIS, HIRSUTISM).
Hypertrichosis is too heavy a growth of, hair on normally hairy skin areas, or a visible growth on areas where such growth should not occur.

It is usually either an inherited tendency, an evidence of imbalance in thyroid, pituitary, suprarenal, or sex-gland activity, or a result of tumors of these glands. Nothing can be done about heredity, but glandular activity can in some cases be brought back to normal and tumors can sometimes be removed. As a result of such treatment, a return to normal hair growth and distribution can sometimes be accomplished.

Hypertrichosis is no greater a sign of glandular abnormality in women than in men. It is only our idea of what is pleasing in appearance that makes most women ashamed of superfluous hair and many men proud of it.

What to Do
1. Have a dermatologist make a careful study, if possible, with the aim of detecting any abnormal glandular activity that may be present.
2. Hair-removing creams (chemical depilatories) may be used safely
186
if the directions are followed carefully. They may be somewhat irritating to the skin.
3. The only completely safe way to remove unwanted hair is to have a registered electrologist remove it hair by hair by the use of an electric needle.
4. Contrary to what most people think, shaving of unwanted hair is safe and inexpensive and does not cause the hair to grow faster or coarser.

ITCHING, GENERAL (PRURITUS).
Itching in itself is not a disease, but a symptom of many different diseases or abnormal conditions. Permanent relief, obviously, can be obtained only by avoiding or correcting the causes; but the simple measures described below should give at least temporary relief in most cases where skin eruption or other signs of disease do not appear. Some diseases not primarily skin diseases have itching as a symptom, diabetes mellitus being one of them.

What to Do
1. Take a diet low in fats, sweets, starches, and spices. Drink plenty of water. Avoid alcohol, coffee, and tea.
2. Bran, starch, or vinegar should be added to the bath water in the case of any warm, cleansing bath. Experience will prove which works best. Following the bath, the skin should be dried without harsh rubbing. Baths should not be more frequent than necessary.
3. Wear underclothing that will not irritate the skin. Launder it with care, making sure that all traces of alkali and soap are rinsed out.
4. Try applying 1 percent phenol in calamine lotion three times a day to the itching areas, if not too extensive. If this proves too drying to the skin, substitute for it a lotion made as follows:

Menthol............ 1|
Phenol .......... 2|
Glycerin........... 15|
Alcohol, 35% q.s. ad.......... 240|

In the use of any lotion for the relief of itching, take care not to let any of it get into the eyes. This will not be difficult unless it is the skin of the eyelids that is itching.
5. Most important of all, try to find out the cause of the itching and avoid, treat, or correct it. This may call for the aid of a physician, especially in the case of persistent itching in the genital or anal regions.

ITCHING IN THE ANAL REGION (PRURITUS ANI).
Pruritus ani is a persistent itching, frequently with redness, maceration, and fissuring of the skin, occurring in the skin around the rectal outlet. The itching sometimes becomes so distressing as to demand vigorous treatment. It tends to be worse at night. There are many possible causes for this condition, but the commonest is an infection of the superficial skin layers by a yeastlike organism called "monilia" (candida) . The constant moisture between the buttocks lessens the normal firmness of the skin. Germs and the yeastlike organisms, being always present, have a chance to grow in this softened skin.

Pruritus ani may accompany dermatitis from soap or douches, diabetes mellitus, diarrhea, intertrigo, leukorrhea, lichen simplex, seborrheic dermatitis, and nervous tension. Whatever the cause of the itching, the most important local treatment factor in controlling it is to keep the skin clean and dry. It may be necessary to keep a pad of dry absorbent cotton between the buttocks for this purpose.

What to Do
1. Avoid the use of soap, but keep the skin about the rectal outlet clean by washing it gently but thoroughly with warm water after each bowel movement and drying after each washing. Repeat at other times, if necessary, to total at least two bathings daily. Soft, wet tissue or cotton rather than toilet paper should be used as an aid in washing.
2. The washing after the bowel movement can be made more thorough by taking a small, half-pint (225 c.c.) plain warm water enema after the movement but before the washing.
3. After the washing and drying, apply a lotion made as follows:

Phenol ..............1|
Glycerin ............15|
Rose water q.s. ad......... 120|

4. After the lotion has dried, apply a generous amount of powder, and repeat the application of powder every two hours. A good powder is made as follows:


Salicylic acid ........2|
Talcum powder ..........58|
Mix thoroughly.

5. Each night at bedtime apply a small amount of a salve made as follows:

Salicylic acid ........... 1|
Sulfur ppt. ............2|
Cold cream q.s. ad............ 60|

6. If the above treatment does not bring permanent relief within one week, have a physician make special studies to determine the underlying cause of the condition and to prescribe more appropriate remedies.

LIVER SPOT (CHLOASMA).
Chloasma manifests itself as medium-sized yellowish-brown patches or spots on the skin, more frequently seen in women than in men or children. These spots are most common in elderly people, in this respect being opposite to freckles, which in other respects they resemble. They are skin areas in which the normal skin pigment is considerably increased in quantity.

The pigmented areas are usually somewhat rounded and have well-defined margins, but they may become numerous enough and close enough together to merge and produce irregular shapes.

The appearance of these spots does not indicate any disease or ill health, and they cause no discomfort. The common name "liver spot" is not accurate there are no skin pigmentations directly caused by either the normal or the abnormal action of the liver, except the yellowing caused by jaundice. Known causes of liver spots include sun exposure, pregnancy, and the use of birth-control tablets, perfumes, skin oils, and certain medicines.

What to Do
1. If possible, have a thorough medical study made to detect any possible underlying disease or glandular disorder which may have caused the appearance of the pigmented spots on the skin. Such a disease or disorder may respond to treatment; and, if it does, the spots may clear up. That such a disease or disorder may be found, however, is not very likely.
2. In the usual case, with no real cure possible, the spots may be given the same treatment as that suggested for freckles.

STASIS DERMATITIS AND STASIS ULCER.
This disease involves a deterioration of the tissues of the skin in the legs which follows an interference with or slackening of the flow of blood through the veins of the legs. The condition frequently develops over a period of several years, often in the wake of known disease of the veins of the legs, such as varicose veins or thrombophlebitis. The skin itches, becomes reddened, and sometimes swells. Small injuries heal slowly, and the healed areas are scarred and pigmented (brown) . As the condition worsens, injured areas fail to heal and ulcers form.

What to Do
1. Avoid standing in one position for long periods of time.
2. When seated, elevate the legs to the level of the hips.
3. In stubborn cases, elevate the foot of the bed about four inches above the level of the head of the bed to facilitate the return of blood from the legs during sleep.
4. If the veins of the leg are prominent, use elastic bandage or elastic hose to minimize the stagnation of blood in the veins.
5. Engage in exercise requiring the use of the legs as the general condition may permit.
6. Use leg baths with contrasting hot and cold water (three minutes of hot followed by a few seconds of cold, then repeat, up to fifteen minutes per treatment) two or three times per day.
7. Take precautions against bumps and injuries to the skin of the legs.
8. If an ulcer develops, a physician must use surgical techniques for removing fragments of dead tissue from the base of the ulcer. Use antibiotic ointment or powder to minimize infection. Cover with a "pressure sandwich" type of dressing, gently applied, to minimize the stagnation of blood in the area.

VITILIGO (LEUKODERMA).
Vitiligo is a condition in which spots on the skin completely lose their normal pigment, or from birth have no pigment. The cause is not known, except that a hereditary tendency has been noticed in many cases. The condition, however, often accompanies psoriasis or arthritis. There is no known cure, but it is comforting to know that vitiligo causes no physical distress and does not harm the general health. The white patches on the skin are especially subject to sunburn, and tanning of the surrounding skin makes them more noticeable.

What to Do
1. Avoid exposure to sunlight or tanning of the skin in the areas where the white spots are located. Use a sun-screening lotion before going into the sunlight.
2. Avoiding tea, coffee, and carbonated drinks, and taking a diet high in vitamin B complex has been recommended on general principles, but there is no guarantee that doing so will make any difference in the appearance of the spots.
3. Consult a dermatologist, who may use a medication especially recommended for the disease.

WHITEHEAD (MILIUM).
Milia, or whiteheads, are small, comparatively firm masses of sebaceous material, similar to blackheads but never infected, and covered by the outer layer of the skin instead of extending up to or above the surface. They are usually located on the eyelids, cheeks, or temples, causing slight elevations of the skin which may be felt as tiny, hard nodules.
The development of whiteheads is hard to explain, but they are painless and harmless, though when numerous they give the affected skin areas an unattractive appearance. They are usually associated with acne in teenagers or with aging skin in mature individuals.

What to Do
After sterilizing the affected skin area with 2 percent tincture of iodine, shell out the small masses by carefully opening the tops of the small nodules with a sterilized needle and gently squeezing them out. A blackhead remover will be helpful in this.

Nail Disorders
Nearly all abnormalities of the nails result from one or another of the following: congenital defects, accidental damage to the nail bed, bacterial infections, fungous infections, or some dis¬ease that affects the entire body or the skin in the region of the nails.

Those abnormalities caused by systemic diseases usually correct themselves when these diseases are successfully treated. Until a study of the individual case is made by a physician, preferably a skin specialist, not much can be done about nail disorders of this sort.

Such a study is strongly urged, since some of the possible causative diseases such as syphilis or psoriasis should never go without treatment. This is especially true of syphilis, which may easily be present without the victim's knowledge and which may have disastrous later results.

Brittleness of the nails may be caused by sluggish thyroid action, hypochromic anemia, or long use of fingernail polish. A basal metabolism test is advised to determine whether or not the action of the thyroid is sluggish. Thyroid tablets will improve the nails if their brittleness is due to sluggish thyroid action, but they should never be taken without a physician's supervision. A blood count, with careful study of the blood cells, will either prove or rule out hypochromic anemia. If the use of fingernail polish is the cause, discontinuing its use will be curative. Anointing the nails nightly with olive oil or castor oil wi!1 help toughen them, especially if dressings are applied to keep the oil from being rubbed off during sleep. The following cream, which should also be applied every night, is better than oil in some cases:

Lanolin..................... 1|
White wax .................. 1|
White petrolatum................ 3|
Triethanolamine.............. 4|
Water q.s. ad ..............30|


NAIL DISEASES.
The four involvements of the fingernails or toenails shown here relate to other skin diseases or in the case of koilonychia to a systemic disease.

Onychomycosis is considered else where in the chapter under "Ringworm of the Nails." The patient should not attempt self-treatment of this disease because it is difficult to arrest. The physician may have to remove a considerable portion of the affected nail or nails and then prescribe medicated applications more potent than for usual manifestations of fungous disease.

The nails become involved in at least 15 percent of the cases of psoriasis The treatment of psoriasis of the nails is the same as for the disease in general.

Eczema often affects the nails when this disease involves the hands or feet. In such cases soothing lotions frequently prove helpful. The more heroic forms of treatment such as X ray or the corticosteroids are used only, of course, under the physician's supervision.
Koilonychia is usually associated with some such disease as anemia, thyroid disorder, or syphilis. It responds to the treatment of the parent disease.

INGROWING TOENAIL.
In this condition the skin and flesh at one or both corners of a nail, usually the nail of a great toe, become tender and often inflamed. Shoes that are either too short or too narrow across the toes may cause this trouble. High heels may also cause it by throwing the foot forward so that the toes are pushed into and pinched by the pointed front of the shoe. A faulty method of trimming the nails may also cause in growing toenails. The nails should be cut straight across and left long enough so there is no flesh in front of the corners. If they are cut short, especially if rounded at the corners, the skin and flesh are pressed inward in front of these corners, and as the nail grows it cuts into the skin and flesh and makes the trouble.

What to Do
1. As a preventive measure, cut the toenails as suggested above.
2. If a toenail is already ingrown, proceed as follows:
Apply a strip of adhesive plaster, drawing it around under the toe and attaching the ends so as to pull the skin and flesh away from the corners and edges of the nail.
Gently pack a small amount of oiled cotton or a bit of oiled gauze under the buried edge and corner of the nail.
If the toe is inflamed, give alternate hot and cold foot baths twenty minutes night and morning.
Cut a V-groove in the nail near the sore side and parallel to it, going as deep as possible without drawing blood.
If all these treatments fail, consult a physician, who can cure the condition by a simple operation.

PARONYCHIA.
This is a staphylococcal infection of the skin at a nail margin, commonly called a "run-around." It should be treated in the same way as a boil .If the pocket of infection is unusually deep and painful, however, it is advisable to have a physician open and drain it, rather than wait for it to open of itself.

A pus pocket in this location seems to be partly buried under the nail and thus unusually difficult to drain unless thoroughly opened. Furthermore, the tips of the fingers are so richly supplied with nerve endings that they are extremely sensitive to pain. A small paronychia may cause as much misery as a large boil located elsewhere.

Neoplastic Diseases
CANCER (CARCINOMA) OF THE SKIN.
Skin cancers are new growths of epithelial cells of the skin, tending to spread into surrounding tissues, or giving rise to the transfer of such cells from one organ or part of the body to another. Some skin cancers begin as small scaly or warty spots called keratoses, from which thick scales tend to loosen and fall off from time to time.

Others begin as waxy pimples or small, whitish, blackhead like nodules. Since they are of various types, it requires special training and experience to tell one type from another, or to tell whether or not some suspicious growth or nodule on the skin is really cancerous. Many that are cancerous are mixed or intermediate in type, so are not characteristic of either type.

Cancers which begin as scaly or warty spots tend to grow rather rapidly, becoming both broader and deeper and eventually forming large ulcers that bleed easily. These ulcers are surrounded by narrow zones of hard tissue.

As they become larger, malignant cells often spread from them through lymph channels to surrounding and underlying structures. Rarely they spread through the bloodstream to distant parts of the body, especially the lungs. In the early stages, both pain and itching are slight or entirely absent, which may cause one to ignore the condition until it has spread far enough and deep enough to be really dangerous.

Later there is more or less pain. After an extensive spread has taken place, no treatment can save life. Fortunately, the growth or spread is not so rapid that a really watchful person cannot seek for examination and treatment in time. Skin cancer is about 98 percent curable when treated properly.

Cancers that begin as waxy pimples or whitish or blackheadlike nodules are inclined to grow very slowly as a rule, forming small and comparatively shallow ulcers in the centers of broad, firm nodules. Causing very little pain, such cancers may spread over considerable areas before they begin to travel through lymph or blood channels. They are therefore less dangerous than the other type, but it is still not safe to let them go untreated.

Overexposure of the skin to sunlight is the principal cause of skin cancer, especially if the skin is dry, harsh, and of a complexion that does not easily tan. Repeated or continuous irritation of any kind also has a causative influence. Pipe smokers' cancer of the lip is a common form caused by irritation by pipe stems. Irritation by soot, paraffin, tar, or lubricating oils of petroleum origin is especially likely to cause cancer of the skin. Tampering with the waxy pimples or the nodules will hasten their malignant development.

Skin cancer occurs most frequently on the face or on the skin of other exposed parts of the head. The neck, back of the hands, and genital regions are also fairly common sites of skin cancer. Other areas of the body surface are rarely affected.

What to Do
1. If some waxy pimple or scaly or warty spot appears on the skin, does not itch, yet persists more than one to three months, consult a physician, preferably a dermatologist, without further delay. Let him make a study to determine whether or not the spot is, or may become, cancerous. Nothing short of complete destruction or removal of the seemingly simple but possibly malignant growth is safe; and the sooner, the better. The physician may use X rays, surgery, or cautery in treatment.
2. Do not try caustics, pastes, or ointments on your own responsibility or on the recommendation of others.

KELOID.
Keloids are overgrowth of scar tissue or of tissue similar to that in scars, which continue to grow and form nodules or irregular tumors. They usually result from injury such as burns, surgery, or disease, the new growth of tissue persisting and often involving adjoining healthy skin. Keloids, however, are not malignant, and they do not endanger life.

The tendency to form keloids seems to run in families and is more common in Negroes than in people with fair skin. They may cause mild pricking and burning sensations, and they are often tender and painful. They are difficult to treat successfully since they tend to recur after removal. Surgery is the simplest method of removal, but it is also the method most likely to result in recurrence. X-ray and carbon-dioxide applications are usually helpful in flattening the keloid tumor and relieving the tenderness.

What to Do
1. Do not try home treatment. It will not succeed.
2. Consult a skin specialist if possible. He may use surgery, radium,
X rays, carbon-dioxide snow, or other methods of removing or destroying the growth; but he cannot guarantee complete and permanent success.

LIPOMA (FATTY TUMOR).
A lipoma is a benign and painless tumor made up of fat cells and developing in or close beneath the skin. There is little danger that a lipoma a soft, slowly growing, freely movable tumor will ever become malignant; but it may become the seat of gangrene or of fat necrosis. Even though this may not happen, if such tumors are large or numerous they may cause awkwardness of motion, discomfort from weight or from irritation, and a very ugly appearance. Surgical removal is simple and safe.

What to Do
1. Do not try home treatments. They will prove useless.
2. If the tumor is large enough to cause discomfort, to interfere with normal body movements, to be sore on account of irritation, or is located where it is unsightly, have it removed by a surgeon.