Choroby skóry i jej przydatków w międzywojennej Polsce na podstawie poradników dla kobiet z lat 1922–1939.

Choroby skóry i jej przydatków w międzywojennej Polsce na podstawie poradników dla kobiet z lat 1922–1939.

Skin and its appendages diseases widespread in the interwar years in Poland on the basis of handbooks for women edited between 1922 – 1939

Ewa Szmaj

After 1918 polish society was in a diffi cult situation because of low level of hygiene, prevailing infectious skin diseases and many other factors. There were used polish handbooks for women edited between 1922 and 1939 compared with medical interwar knowledge to prove the thesis above. The examination has shown that the most popular were: parasitic and bacterial diseases and also different types of mycosis. It was necessary to consult a doctor in case of bacterial or mycosis infection, as it was written in analyzed handbooks for women. Furthermore hygiene was the easiest and the most important way to keep healthy skin and the whole organism. Another group of skin diseases, named also “cosmetic defects” contained: seborrhoea, acne , oily hair and dandruff, white hair, hypertrichosis, hyperhydrosis , freckles and other hyperpigmentations of the skin, callus, corns, scras and so on. The interwar handbooks popularized medicaments and cosmetic treatments to eliminate these defects even though they were, according to dermatological nomenclature, in group of skin diseases. This paper is focused on typical skin diseases and cosmetic defects should be analyzed separately and also carefully.

Prace analityczne

pl