Old Age Deferred: The causes of old age and its postponement by hygienic and therapeutic measuresLorand, Arnold
Science
Old Age Deferred: The causes of old age and its postponement by hygienic and therapeutic measures
Lorand, Arnold
Hygiene; Longevity; Old age
In persons of certain age and also in younger persons with a fading
expression of the face and beginning wrinkles I have found, as
efficacious in producing an immediate improvement, the gentle
application to the face of any kind of fats of pure quality and the
rubbing thereon of some reliable preparation of white powder. The powder
should afterward be wiped off very carefully. It should not be put on in
thick layers, for then, as after the use of pastes and paints in
general, lines may be created where they are not yet present and lines
already existing may be hollowed out to veritable wrinkles. No powder
should be visible on the face. The object is to add to faces with dry
skin the best variety of fat with reference to its animal origin so as
to make up for the wanting secretion of the sebaceous glands and to
replace, if possible to a certain extent, the fat wanting in the
tissues. All kinds of massaging of the skin should be avoided; only a
gentle rubbing is allowed. In fact, I consider massage as deleterious to
the face, except it is done by a qualified masseur who is an expert in
this kind of massage with a correct anatomical knowledge of the muscles
of the face and of the direction they are running. Special care must be
taken that the massage of the face should never be done with fats, as
this would promote the formation of lines and wrinkles and even of deep
ones, if done unskillfully. The massage of the face should consist in
gentle strokings of the face with the end of the fingers and always
following the direction of the muscles.
The powders used should be of the best possible quality. Before all they
should not contain any metallic salts and especially not lead. Unhappily
some of the very best powders are prepared with it, as lead gives to the
powders a specially white and attractive aspect. But I should like to
bring home to the ladies the fact, that these powders are the most apt,
especially in persons who perspire easily, to create lines and wrinkles
and to give to young faces in a short time an old appearance.
The best powders I consider those which consist of fine rice-powder,
amylum, or talcum, and they produce the best effect, if they are not
visible on the face. I have often seen the finest complexions ruined by
the frequent usage of thick powders, pastes, and paints. The
above-mentioned procedure of rubbing in fats and thereupon some of the
finest hygienic powders should only be done every other day. To give to
fading faces a certain tonicity I recommend the use of alcohol, diluted
with three times as much water, which, in the same manner as diluted
vinegar, will also improve the complexion. I have found that a very
strongly diluted solution of the extract of the suprarenal glands has
also a marked effect in toning up the muscles of the face, if rubbed in
gently. Only small quantities of the diluted solution should be used for
this purpose.
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