Accidental acne cure
I am sure that one
day I am going to
make a really
important
discovery in
medical science.
I can feel it in my
bones. But then,
I am an optimist.
I also believe that
I am going to win
the national
lottery. I did, however, come remarkably
close to discovering a cure for acne
recently.
I was staying at a friend's house and,
as I was showering, I noticed the little
guest soap in the dish. "How sweet," I
thought as I worked up a lather and
scrubbed my face with it. I found the
soap a bit stingy and so decided not to
use it on the rest of my body-a wise
move as it turned out. Fortunately, there
were plenty of other exotic smelling
shower gels to be used. Once dressed, I
looked in the mirror and noticed my
face looked rather pink and the skin felt
taut and dry. I asked my friend about the
soap. "What soap?" she inquired, with a
puzzled expression on her face. It turned
out to be a bar of clothes stain remover
for use on those "embarrassingly
stubborn stains."
After a couple of days, the redness
was wearing off and my face was spot
free. I was feeling quite tempted to
patent my new acne cure until, on the
fourth day, my skin began to peel off.
Unfortunately, looking like something
out of Night of the Living Dead is not a
viable alternative to living with acne. I
felt the Nobel prize slipping from my
grasp.
Many new discoveries are made by
accident though-think of Fleming and
penicillin. My brother in law discovered
the art of under arm hair sculpture when
he accidentally used my sister's hairspray
instead of her deodorant. Curiously, it is
yet to take off as an art form.
It is accidental discoveries like these
(the penicillin, not the body hair
sculpture) that give me the greatest hope
that medical science will continue to
uncover new treatments and gain a
greater understanding of disease. I would
like to be part of these discoveries, but I
am equally happy that I will be around
to reap the benefits, both for my patients
and my family.
Sally MorrisonGriffiths, second year medical student, University of Liverpool
Email: salimg@liv.ac.uk
studentBMJ 2001;09:171-216 June ISSN 0966-6494
