Importance of Skin Care During Holi

Holi is a festival of colors and celebrated with the full spirit in India. These days, it is being celebrated in many places all over the world as well. However, the ill effects of poor grade colors on the skin is a very common scenario these days. Dermatologists advise taking special precaution during Holi.

Let’s understand the importance of skin care for Holi season with the help of a case study.

Miss Sayantani Mitra, a second-year college student had an unpleasant incident last Holi. Miss Mitra had a sensitive skin since an early age. Her parents always encouraged her to stay away from color ever since. However, after she moved to the residential academy, the scenario changed. Her friends and peers encouraged her to get involved in the Holi party.

After playing for about 3 to 4 hours outdoors, she washed off most of the colors while bathing. However, during the evening, she started experiencing itching, burning sensation, and irritation of the skin. A friend asked her to use a moisturizer to soothe the discomfort. But it did very little to improve the condition, in contrast, things worsen overnight. She was brought to a dermatologist the next day. After examining her, the doctor found her skin was severely damaged.

Holi - ILS Hospitals

It became dry, scrubbed, cracked and also had early symptoms of eczema. The scrubbing of skin in the attempt of removing color also contributed to excessive damage to the skin. As she had pre-existing skin issues, her condition became quite severe. After getting extensive treatment of 2 weeks, the primary signs of skin allergy was resolved, but regular medication was prescribed for 2 more months to negate any more ill effects of the chemicals.

Dermatologists confirm that several such cases are registered each year following the day of Holi. Many of such patients even complain severe allergy in scalp and eyes as well. Moreover, apart from the ill effects of chemicals present in colors, spending long hours in direct exposure to sunlight also damages the skin simultaneously. It causes pigmentation, sunburn and also acts as a catalyst to skin damage caused by chemicals.

During this festival season of Holi, we, at ILS Hospitals, wish you all happy and prosperous moments with your family and friends. But stay in charge of your health amidst enjoyment and happiness. In case of any skin allergies, instead of trying homemade remedies and making things worse, get in touch with a dermatologist.

Why Every Elder Patient Need Geriatrics Medicine

An individual goes through several stages of age. In each of them, they require special care and medication. In the usual environment around us, we have comprehended few of them, while neglected other few. For instance, we have fathomed the special need of an individual during its initial years of life and classified as paediatrics domain. However, once they outgrow adolescence, the domain of doctors is classified based on either medical illness.

Thus, this attitude of the society overall, make the geriatrics domain a rather unusual and unheard specialty of medical care. Let’s understand the importance of geriatric medicine.

Geriatric Physician

Geriatrics is a specialty of medical healthcare that involves diagnosis, treatment, and care, particularly for elderly people. It promotes their overall health by treating disabilities and diseases through both corrective and preventive measures. A doctor with specialization in geriatric medicine is known as geriatrician or geriatric physician.

As mentioned above, as soon as an individual is pronounced an adult, they don’t need to consult a paediatrician any longer. In event of any illness, at first a general physician is consulted, upon further diagnosis, they are recommended to doctors having specialization in that particular illness. For eg. Gynaecologist, a gastroenterologist, a dermatologist and so on.

This treatment structure is considered as the standard procedure and rules out any particular need of specialist for elderly patients. This common misconception is prevalent among people, which stop them from seeking geriatric care for elderly patients. However, the need of having a geriatric physician is extremely important particularly for super senior citizens.

Geriatrician

Geriatric medicine aims to improve the physical, emotional and mental wellbeing of the elder patient. Its focuses to prevent, to improve and/or to eradicate, conditions that degrade the quality of life. Some of its main goals are to-

  1. Improve instability
  2. Improve immobility
  3. Improve memory, recognition, and intellect
  4. Improve incontinence

A rather large proportion of super senior citizens often display symptoms of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, which make them vulnerable, similar to kids, who are not always sure about their exact symptoms or forget to mention them or to recollect. Moreover, due to old age, the healing and regenerative properties diminish significantly. Thereby, their treatment and recovery are different from that of an individual in their mid-30s or 40s. Thus the need geriatric physician is irreplaceable and should be acknowledged adequately.