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Vogue: Stay young
Book reviews II
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Vogue: Stay young Alexandra Penney, New York, 1981, Conde Nast Publications, Inc. 256 pages. Hard cover, $19.95. T h e hide guide David A. Paslin, M.D., Millbrae, CA, 1981, Celestial Arts Publishers. 285 pages. Paperback, $8.95. To get the total effect from each section of Vogue's spectacular Stay Young, the "targeted reader" would have to be exceptionally narcissistic, immature, and gullible, exactly like certain patients that are well known to every dermatologist and plastic surgeon. The book is excellent in design and illustration, factual overall, sophistication in the New York style, and enormously saleable. Concerned almost entirely with personal appearances (skin-body-clothes), the text is written for women, and although admirable careers are mentioned, this book is for the woman who has the money, leisure, and the narcissisism to devote herself to being "smashingly gorgeous." When achievement is mentioned, the authors mean keeping the body trim, moving about gracefully on the tennis court and at parties, and, of course, sexual gymnastics. The book does not deal with those women who are concerned primarily with intellect or with real careers, for instance, in medicine. A really sexy decolletage, it is implied, is worth ten refereed publications in JAAD, anytime. Beauty is not merely the absence of skin diseases. Beauty is not just being well scrubbed either, The experts at Vogue clearly define "gorgeously smashing" for you, and dermatologists should understand this very complex state of mind. On factual medical matters, Stay Young is very well done, almost never sliding into either pseudoscience or silliness, as do most popular health and glamour books. Plastic surgery is discussed well, including a section by Norman Orentreich. Paul Lazar is quoted on "cutaneous climate shock," and on how to solve other less shocking cosmetic problems. As well as learning some realistic dermatology, the reader learns about henna, bran, All McGraw, sea salt baths, orgasms, insomnia, ten-
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nis, thigh lifts just like Jane Fonda does, and what Calvin Klein thinks of chiffon. On the subject of vitamins, minerals, and health food fads, the authors have distinguished themselves by keeping to the scientific facts, and even being cautionary, going so far as to explain that daily megavitamin therapy is a "needless drain on the pocket book." On how to diet, the Vogue experts are helpful and realistic. Stay Young also condemns sunbathing and drums in the fact that sunlight can be dangerous to the skin. The book could be recommended for this corrective public education, alone. Easily a best buy if one can ignore the powerful spell of self-adoration, then this authoritative book is a clear choice among the many "youth and glamour" books. In contrast, The Hide Guide is a large (66 item) collection of very short cogent essays about common skin disorders, each of which could be a handout sheet for patient education. Each essay sounds like a kindly specialist talking to a California high school student beginning his/her junior year. Some titles are "Ear W a x , " "B.O., . . . . Crotch Rot," "Maggots," "The Polka Dot Man," "Shingles," and "His Hair Turned White." Each essay begins with a clever scenario ("Mattie had the clap, but had no way of knowing . . . . ") and then he inserts the carefully chosen educational messages one after another. The doctor's commentary on the scenario is easy to read, sympathetic, lighthearted, witty, optimistic, and medically expert. Unlike Stay Young, this book is not concerned with glamour, fashion, or celebrity status. Young consumers who seek scientifically valid, commonsense advice about general skin care and skin diseases may like this book; unhappily, such consumers may be few. A copy in the dermatologist's waiting room might be useful, or nurses and other new employees in the office might be requested to read this book in order to help them explain to the patients properly.
Philip C. Anderson, M.D. Columbia, MO 965
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Vogue: Stay young Alexandra Penney, New York, 1981, Conde Nast Publications, Inc. 256 pages. Hard cover, $19.95. T h e hide guide David A. Paslin, M.D., Millbrae, CA, 1981, Celestial Arts Publishers. 285 pages. Paperback, $8.95. To get the total effect from each section of Vogue's spectacular Stay Young, the "targeted reader" would have to be exceptionally narcissistic, immature, and gullible, exactly like certain patients that are well known to every dermatologist and plastic surgeon. The book is excellent in design and illustration, factual overall, sophistication in the New York style, and enormously saleable. Concerned almost entirely with personal appearances (skin-body-clothes), the text is written for women, and although admirable careers are mentioned, this book is for the woman who has the money, leisure, and the narcissisism to devote herself to being "smashingly gorgeous." When achievement is mentioned, the authors mean keeping the body trim, moving about gracefully on the tennis court and at parties, and, of course, sexual gymnastics. The book does not deal with those women who are concerned primarily with intellect or with real careers, for instance, in medicine. A really sexy decolletage, it is implied, is worth ten refereed publications in JAAD, anytime. Beauty is not merely the absence of skin diseases. Beauty is not just being well scrubbed either, The experts at Vogue clearly define "gorgeously smashing" for you, and dermatologists should understand this very complex state of mind. On factual medical matters, Stay Young is very well done, almost never sliding into either pseudoscience or silliness, as do most popular health and glamour books. Plastic surgery is discussed well, including a section by Norman Orentreich. Paul Lazar is quoted on "cutaneous climate shock," and on how to solve other less shocking cosmetic problems. As well as learning some realistic dermatology, the reader learns about henna, bran, All McGraw, sea salt baths, orgasms, insomnia, ten-
I
I I
III
nis, thigh lifts just like Jane Fonda does, and what Calvin Klein thinks of chiffon. On the subject of vitamins, minerals, and health food fads, the authors have distinguished themselves by keeping to the scientific facts, and even being cautionary, going so far as to explain that daily megavitamin therapy is a "needless drain on the pocket book." On how to diet, the Vogue experts are helpful and realistic. Stay Young also condemns sunbathing and drums in the fact that sunlight can be dangerous to the skin. The book could be recommended for this corrective public education, alone. Easily a best buy if one can ignore the powerful spell of self-adoration, then this authoritative book is a clear choice among the many "youth and glamour" books. In contrast, The Hide Guide is a large (66 item) collection of very short cogent essays about common skin disorders, each of which could be a handout sheet for patient education. Each essay sounds like a kindly specialist talking to a California high school student beginning his/her junior year. Some titles are "Ear W a x , " "B.O., . . . . Crotch Rot," "Maggots," "The Polka Dot Man," "Shingles," and "His Hair Turned White." Each essay begins with a clever scenario ("Mattie had the clap, but had no way of knowing . . . . ") and then he inserts the carefully chosen educational messages one after another. The doctor's commentary on the scenario is easy to read, sympathetic, lighthearted, witty, optimistic, and medically expert. Unlike Stay Young, this book is not concerned with glamour, fashion, or celebrity status. Young consumers who seek scientifically valid, commonsense advice about general skin care and skin diseases may like this book; unhappily, such consumers may be few. A copy in the dermatologist's waiting room might be useful, or nurses and other new employees in the office might be requested to read this book in order to help them explain to the patients properly.
Philip C. Anderson, M.D. Columbia, MO 965