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    What Exactly Is Eczema? Causes of Atopic Dermatitis and Treatment

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    When Oscar Brann imagined retirement, he pictured days spent fishing with his grandson, or doing yardwork at his home in Skowhegan, Maine.But itchy and flaky red rashes appeared across his body a few years ago, making it excruciating to move, he said. The pain forced Mr. Brann, a 62-year-old former shoe manufacturer, to retire early. Instead of gardening in his backyard, he spent hours on the couch, trying to find relief.“The skin that came off my feet, it was just unbelievable,” Mr. Brann said. “I had to sweep my floor every day.”Mr. Brann, who still copes with the debilitating rashes, is one of millions of people with eczema, a broad term for a group of skin conditions that affects about 10 percent of the U.S. population. The most common form of eczema is atopic dermatitis, and the terms are often used interchangeably.The condition often crops up during childhood, experts said. And while some people outgrow it, atopic dermatitis can last into adulthood, or appear later in life.Sometimes, the rashes are an itchy nuisance that flare up once in a while. But that’s not always the case, said Dr. Brittany Craiglow, an adjunct associate professor of dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine. When it’s severe, “it can be dramatically life altering,” she said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How to Use Chemical Peels at Home, According to Experts

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      The F.D.A. recommends against using the skin care products without professional supervision. Experts explain the risks.When Laura Messina, 43, wanted to lighten the dark spots under her eyes this summer, she tried a chemical peel she bought online from a department store.Hours later, her face was covered in rough, red, burning splotches. The irritation lingered for days, so she rushed to a dermatologist who prescribed a cream that she applied twice a day for two weeks.“It was silly of me to even try it,” she said. “This was a lesson for me.”Chemical peels, procedures where liquid is applied to skin to remove outer layers, are typically administered by dermatologists and other licensed professionals. There’s evidence that peels help manage pimples, discoloration, scarring and signs of aging.While at-home versions are widely available, they can come with some risks, experts say. In July, the Food and Drug Administration warned consumers against buying chemical peels with high concentrations of certain acids and urged consumers to use peels only under professional supervision.For those who want to try peels themselves, dermatologists said it’s crucial to be safe.What are at-home chemical peels?Over-the-counter chemical peels are similar to those used in dermatologists’ offices — they both may contain a variety of acids. At-home versions usually include alpha-hydroxy acids like glycolic or lactic acid, or beta-hydroxy acids such as salicylic acid. Both types improve skin texture and appearance by penetrating and removing the outer layer of skin.The solutions in at-home versions, however, are generally weaker than those used in doctor’s offices, so their results are often more subtle.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Can Stress Really Give You A Round ‘Cortisol Face’?

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      Online influencers claim the hormone can change the shape of your face. But experts say that misconstrues how cortisol works.“You’re not ugly. You just have cortisol face,” Mandana Zarghami told viewers at the start of a recent TikTok video, one of many on the social platform blaming a rounded, puffy face on high levels of the hormone.Hundreds of lifestyle and beauty influencers have claimed online that they’ve transformed their appearance by tackling stress. Many are sharing before and after photos that contrast their once fuller faces with new, lean jawlines, attributing the difference to lower levels of cortisol, the hormone produced in response to physical and mental stress. Some are even selling products and programs they claim will reduce cortisol and lead to a slimmed-down appearance.Ms. Zarghami, 28, said in an interview that her aim on TikTok was to educate people about the effects of high cortisol, though she does have a wellness business, through which she sells a “hormone-balance tea.”When she began experiencing visible swelling of her face and abdomen in 2020, Ms. Zarghami consulted a doctor, who suggested stress might be to blame. She felt frustrated by the response: “How can I control my stress if you’re not giving me tools?” she wondered.Ms. Zarghami made lifestyle changes that she believed had reduced both her cortisol level and her persistent facial swelling. These included drinking diluted apple cider vinegar after waking, and then green tea throughout the day. She also stopped weight lifting and instead started doing low-impact exercise and walking.Ms. Zarghami later shared those tips online, claiming that “cortisol face” could be tackled without drugs or expensive products. “I did a lot of research on how to fix this naturally,” she said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What to Know About Chiggers Bites, Symptoms and Treatment

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      The mites, which are commonly found in humid regions, can leave itchy bites all over the skin.Dr. Stephanie Lareau whizzed through the trees on her mountain bike in Roanoke, Va., one day in 2018. When she wanted to stop for water and a snack, she didn’t think much of plunking down in a pile of leaves near a reservoir to rest.The next day, Dr. Lareau found a cluster of red bumps along the waistband of her shorts. Her back started to itch intensely.Dr. Lareau, an emergency medicine physician at Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital in Virginia, had seen these marks once or twice before on patients. She knew what had caused them. They were from chiggers, a species of tiny, reddish-brown mites able to leave bites that remain itchy for days or weeks.What is a chigger bite?Chiggers are common in humid regions, like Southern and Midwestern states. Chiggers inhabit grasses, decaying leaf matter and low shrubs near bodies of water. Historically, chigger season in the United States has been from late spring to early fall. But this period is likely to expand as temperatures rise across the country, said Loganathan Ponnusamy, a principal research scholar in the department of entomology and plant pathology at North Carolina State University. He said that scientists in North Carolina were finding chiggers earlier compared with previous years.After chiggers hatch, the larvae can cling to clothing or skin. Once on the skin, they secrete an enzyme to digest skin cells, said Dr. Avinash Patil, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Stanford University who is trained in wilderness medicine. The enzyme causes an immune response that can lead to skin irritation, itchiness and red bumps.Hot spots for bites include folds of skin near tight clothing such as waistbands, the top of sock lines and the area behind the knees. (If you see red bites clustered around your waistband, you can assume they’re from chiggers rather than mosquitoes or other bugs, Dr. Lareau said.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Robots Get a Fleshy Face (and a Smile) in New Research

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      Researchers at the University of Tokyo published findings on a method of attaching artificial skin to robot faces to protect machinery and mimic human expressiveness.Japanese researchers used living skin cells to make a flexible 3-D facial mold for a robot.via Shoji TakeuchiEngineers in Japan are trying to get robots to imitate that particularly human expression — the smile.They have created a face mask from human skin cells and attached it to robots with a novel technique that conceals the binding and is flexible enough to turn down into a grimace or up into a squishy smile.The effect is something between Hannibal Lecter’s terrifying mask and the Claymation figure Gumby.But scientists say the prototypes pave the way for more sophisticated robots, with an outward layer both elastic and durable enough to protect the machine while making it appear more human.Beyond expressiveness, the “skin equivalent,” as the researchers call it, which is made from living skin cells in a lab, can scar and burn and also self-heal, according to a study published June 25 in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science.“Human-like faces and expressions improve communication and empathy in human-robot interactions, making robots more effective in health care, service and companionship roles,” Shoji Takeuchi, a professor at the University of Tokyo and the study’s lead researcher, said in an email.The research comes as robots are becoming more ubiquitous on factory floors.There were 3.9 million industrial robots working on auto and electronics assembly lines and other work settings in 2022, according to the International Federation of Robotics.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Male Pattern Baldness: How to Treat and Prevent Hair Loss

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      Male-pattern baldness hits half of men by age 50. Here’s what to know about treatment and prevention.`It’s a day no man looks forward to: looking in the mirror and admitting that his widow’s peak is real. Or feeling the breeze on the crown of his head.Up to half of men will experience some form of male-pattern baldness by 50, and still more after that. Though our genetics and hormones play major roles in hair loss, the exact mechanisms aren’t fully understood, which is why treatments to stem and reverse it remain imperfect, said Dr. Arash Mostaghimi, vice chair of clinical trials and innovation in the dermatology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.However, there are a few things you can do both before and after that fateful day comes. Here is what you need to know about what works, what’s new and what to avoid.What Causes Male Pattern BaldnessThe average human head contains around 100,000 hairs. Each is connected to a follicle, which can hold one to five hairs.“It’s basically its own organ,” Dr. Mostaghimi said of a scalp follicle. “It has its own stem cells. It regenerates.”Typically, men’s hair loss occurs because of an increase in an enzyme in the scalp that converts testosterone to a more potent form, called dihydrotestosterone (or DHT), Dr. Mostaghimi said. The reasons that one man might have more DMT than another are not well understood, but it has a genetic component.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Large Scientific Review Confirms the Benefits of Physical Touch

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      Premature babies especially benefited from skin-to-skin contact, and women tended to respond more strongly than men did.A hug, a handshake, a therapeutic massage. A newborn lying on a mother’s bare chest.Physical touch can buoy well-being and lessen pain, depression and anxiety, according to a large new analysis of published research released on Monday in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.Researchers from Germany and the Netherlands systematically reviewed years of research on touch, strokes, hugs and rubs. They also combined data from 137 studies, which included nearly 13,000 adults, children and infants. Each study compared individuals who had been physically touched in some way over the course of an experiment — or had touched an object like a fuzzy stuffed toy — to similar individuals who had not.For example, one study showed that daily 20-minute gentle massages for six weeks in older people with dementia decreased aggressiveness and reduced the levels of a stress marker in the blood. Another found that massages boosted the mood of breast cancer patients. One study even showed that healthy young adults who caressed a robotic baby seal were happier, and felt less pain from a mild heat stimulus, than those who read an article about an astronomer.Positive effects were particularly noticeable in premature babies, who “massively improve” with skin-to-skin contact, said Frédéric Michon, a researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and one of the study’s authors.“There have been a lot of claims that touch is good, touch is healthy, touch is something that we all need,” said Rebecca Boehme, a neuroscientist at Linkoping University in Sweden, who reviewed the study for the journal. “But actually, nobody had looked at it from this broad, bird’s eye perspective.”The analysis revealed some interesting and sometimes mysterious patterns. Among adults, sick people showed greater mental health benefits from touch than healthy people did. Who was doing the touching — a familiar person or a health care worker — didn’t matter. But the source of the touch did matter to newborns.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Harvard Removes Binding of Human Skin From Book in Its Library

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      The decision to find a “respectful final disposition” for human remains used for a 19th-century book comes amid growing scrutiny of their presence in museum collections.Of the roughly 20 million books in Harvard University’s libraries, one has long exerted a unique dark fascination, not for its contents, but for the material it was reputedly bound in: human skin.For years, the volume — a 19th-century French treatise on the human soul — was brought out for show and tell, and sometimes, according to library lore, used to haze new employees. In 2014, the university drew jokey news coverage around the world with the announcement that it had used new technology to confirm that the binding was in fact human skin.But on Wednesday, after years of criticism and debate, the university announced that it had removed the binding and would be exploring options for “a final respectful disposition of these human remains.”“After careful study, stakeholder engagement, and consideration, Harvard Library and the Harvard Museum Collections Returns Committee concluded that the human remains used in the book’s binding no longer belong in the Harvard Library collections, due to the ethically fraught nature of the book’s origins and subsequent history,” the university said in a statement.Harvard also said that its own handling of the book, a copy of Arsène Houssaye’s “Des Destinées de L’Ame,” or “The Destiny of Souls,” had failed to live up to the “ethical standards” of care, and had sometimes used an inappropriately “sensationalistic, morbid and humorous tone” in publicizing it.The library apologized, saying that it had “further objectified and compromised the dignity of the human being whose remains were used for its binding.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More