Proposed Legislation to Save American Women from the Dangers of Face-lifts
LEGISLATION TO SAVE AMERICAN WOMEN from the effect of "frantic and artificial efforts to make themselves beautiful," is advocated by Dr. Charles F. Pabst, chief dermatologist of Greenpoint Hospital, Brooklyn, New York.
In an interview published in the Brooklyn Eagle he proposes drastic methods to stop "face-lifting" and other such processes, pointing out that in France similar acts, practised by barbarous races, are subject to heavy penalties. Says The Eagle: "Skin-peelings, face-lifting, paraffin injections to change the shape of a nose or the obstinate curve of a chin—these things, the doctors find, are being more and more indulged in by the beauty-cult followers; to their own harm, and despite all the warnings of the medical profession.
"The question was discust, formally and informally, at a recent medical convention in Atlantic City, where tales were told to indicate that this type of beauty culture is exacting a great toll from its followers, in deformities, inflammations, skin diseases of one sort and another—even death."
Said Dr. Pabst, after returning from the convention:
"Where paraffin and wax are injected under the skin, irritation sets in after a few months and, after a few years, you have sloughing of the tissue, gangrene sets in, and even death has been known to result.
"Now, the average normal adult has sixteen square feet of skin, which would form a mat two feet wide and eight feet long, and the modern American woman treats it like a door-mat.
"The skin of civilized man—and woman—is a delicate organ, as delicate as the heart, which works twenty-four hours a day, adjusting the temperature of the body, keeping infection from entering. It requires little external aid except a daily washing in lukewarm water and a mild soap. But the modern woman abuses every inch of her skin from the soles of the feet to the hair.
"It is notable that the French Government recently adopted a law for the half-civilized races in the French colonies, against mutilating the skin by the barbarous rites of scarring faces, stretching the lips, slashing the body. For such practises, in which the savages indulge in their mistaken pursuit of what they consider beauty, the French now impose jail sentences and fines.
"Now, I feel—many of us feel—that our own Government should follow this beneficial example and pass a similar law to affect our women, only making the punishment much greater. For the American woman has civilization and education on her side and yet she indulges in more savage methods of mutilating her skin."
Source: The Literary Digest for October 1, 1927
In an interview published in the Brooklyn Eagle he proposes drastic methods to stop "face-lifting" and other such processes, pointing out that in France similar acts, practised by barbarous races, are subject to heavy penalties. Says The Eagle: "Skin-peelings, face-lifting, paraffin injections to change the shape of a nose or the obstinate curve of a chin—these things, the doctors find, are being more and more indulged in by the beauty-cult followers; to their own harm, and despite all the warnings of the medical profession.
"The question was discust, formally and informally, at a recent medical convention in Atlantic City, where tales were told to indicate that this type of beauty culture is exacting a great toll from its followers, in deformities, inflammations, skin diseases of one sort and another—even death."
Said Dr. Pabst, after returning from the convention:
"Where paraffin and wax are injected under the skin, irritation sets in after a few months and, after a few years, you have sloughing of the tissue, gangrene sets in, and even death has been known to result.
"Now, the average normal adult has sixteen square feet of skin, which would form a mat two feet wide and eight feet long, and the modern American woman treats it like a door-mat.
"The skin of civilized man—and woman—is a delicate organ, as delicate as the heart, which works twenty-four hours a day, adjusting the temperature of the body, keeping infection from entering. It requires little external aid except a daily washing in lukewarm water and a mild soap. But the modern woman abuses every inch of her skin from the soles of the feet to the hair.
"It is notable that the French Government recently adopted a law for the half-civilized races in the French colonies, against mutilating the skin by the barbarous rites of scarring faces, stretching the lips, slashing the body. For such practises, in which the savages indulge in their mistaken pursuit of what they consider beauty, the French now impose jail sentences and fines.
"Now, I feel—many of us feel—that our own Government should follow this beneficial example and pass a similar law to affect our women, only making the punishment much greater. For the American woman has civilization and education on her side and yet she indulges in more savage methods of mutilating her skin."
Source: The Literary Digest for October 1, 1927