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Capsule moments

JUNE 3, 2018

SUNSCREENS:

Each year at the beginning of June, I always put a sunscreen comment in the column. People need reminding of the importance of sunscreens in the prevention of skin cancers.  I mentioned the passing last year of CBC’s Stuart Maclean in a previous column.  His death due to melanoma may motivate Canadians to use sunscreens more often this year.  Many of us are sloppy when it comes to applying sunscreens.  I’m one of them and I’m a redhead!  (Well a little lighter in colour than before!). People need to be reminded of applying sunscreens 15-30 minutes before going out in the sun, applying sufficient amount…..about a handful for the whole body exposed….and reapplying after sweating or swimming.  There is usually no expiry date on sunscreens but if they are more than three years old they should be tossed.

EPIPEN:

As I write this in the middle of February, the availability of the EpiPen is just starting to come back.  After being unavailable from Pfizer for many months, I’m hoping that by the time this column is released in June, things will be back to normal.

COFFEE ENEMAS:

Gwyneth Paltrow is the most popular disseminator of potentially dangerous products through her website “Goop”.  This coffee enema is just one of the crazy ideas she has come up with although the concept has been around for decades.  There is even a device designed to administer coffee enemas “as a clean way to do coffee enemas”.  (It’s called the Implant-O-Rama in case you’re interested). Any persons with scientific training have dismissed this idea as pseudoscience and have said it can even do damage to the bowel.  There are other ideas she has proposed.  “Vaginal steaming”, jade eggs in the vagina to cultivate sexual energy”.  Even without any endorsement from the scientific community, products like these are still finding a fertile market.  Marketers are quite clever in their method of promotion using words like energize, detoxify and revitalize without making any claim of curing or ameliorating any disease.  As one gynecologist/obstetrician in San Francisco said about the coffee enemas:  “Keep the coffee out of your rectum and in your cup”!

ANTIPERSPIRANTS VS DEODORANTS:

Even the ancient Egyptians used natural antiperspirants.  Evidently alum crystals have been found in the tombs of the pharaohs.  The aluminum salts, like aluminum chlorohydrate found in today’s antiperspirants are much more efficient.  I remember making up a solution of aluminum chloride for a fellow who wanted something “really strong” because nothing else worked for him.  I don’t recall his coming back for more so perhaps the skin irritation of the product may have discouraged him.