Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: neilep on 17/11/2007 22:10:48
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Dear Skin Specialists,
See this Scene from Goldfinger ?
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Yep, we all know it eh ?
If I recall.....I belive the reason the girl passed away was because NOT of the toxicity of the paint but because her skin pores were all clogged !...
Am I recalling this correctly ?...anyway.......is this a viable way to end a persons life ?...must our skin be allowed to breathe ?...how much skin would we need to leave unclogged for minimum life preserving joy and luff ?...or is it a fallacy and as long as we can breathe through our mouths would all be ok ?
Y'see...it's Saturday night and I just don't know !!...do ewe ?
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I always heard the same as you that it did not allow the skin to breath and somewhere I thought that I was told it was true that your body takes in a lot of air also ... and look how they check your body for air saturation these days.. They put that thingy on your finger and it tells then if you are getting enough oxygen by checking your oxygen saturation levels thru your skin! So I think it is true that you can suffocate like that!
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I think the problem is not so much with 'breathing', in the sense of absorbing oxygen; but rather with cooling through evaporation of sweat, which would depend upon how much cooling one needed (ambient temperature, amount of activity, humidity of the air, amount of convection currents in the air, and lots of other factors).
It is quite possible to be contained in a rubber suite (e.g. as an astronaut, pilot, or a dry suit for a diver), and so long as one is adequately kept cool, I don't think there is any risk of death.
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Cooling is definitely one of the main issue here.
If you paint yourself all over with toxic stuff you will suffer toxicity. No doubt about that and depending how nasty the stuff is ..... see e.g. m-Dinitrobenzene intoxication due to skin absorption (http://www.springerlink.com/content/k777v1358vh408t0/)
The main fuction of skin is to form a semi-permeable barrier between what's you and what's not you. Permeable is the key here: skin excretes but also absorbs. So be a bit careful what you get in contact with and what you put on your skin.
To 'let the skin breathe' is of course a metaphor, skin is not actively involved in oxygen absorption etc. However, skin needs to be exposed to the air in order to maintain its functionality; e.g. skin cannot function properly if occluded for a long time . How long it would take for negative effects to show I cannot possibly venture as every person 'functions' slightly differently / can cope with stresses differently.
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if you have cuts or something that needs a plaster, then letting the skin "breath" is a bad idea. always put a plaster on, don't go for the "it will heal better if i let it breath" thing.
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I always pull the bandaide (paster for our english chums) off before it has a chance to heal .. only long enough to stop bleeding thats all.. does that mean I best change my ways???
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Not only does the cut heal better in a moist environment, but the skin also heals better. Leave your wound open to the air and it will dry out.
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but if you leave it open you also leave it open to the possibility of contamination / infections.
Got to be careful ~ and use antiseptics if necessary [:)]
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Other reasons to leave your plaster on, are that you are more than likely to be left with no, or very little scaring and be in less pain.
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I always thoroughly cleanse a wound and put ointment on and a bandaide, then I wait after The next hand washing I remove the bandaide and wash it again. then leave it as long as it is closed and not bleeding. But I guess it really depends on how bad it is. Bad ones I leave covered!
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"Trench foot" is an example of what will occur to skin if it is not kept dry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersion_foot
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Interesting, thanks RD. Never heard of that before [:)]
Neil: make sure you install a temp gauge in your pool [;D] clickety (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=11323.0)
[;D]