PlayStation Gets Its Own Skin Disorder
By Dr. Evelyn Reed | January 01, 0001 | 7 min read
Just when you think things are beginning to look up for Sony, the PlayStation goes and gets its very own skin disorder: PlayStation palmar hidradenitis.
The new skin condition springs from the case of a 12-year-old girl, treated in a Swiss hospital for intensely painful sores on the palms of her hands. The doctors examining the girl determined that she had idiopathic eccrine hidradenitis, a condition usually linked with heavy physical activity and intense sweating that results in sores on the hands and feet. Having the sores only on ones hands was rare, and the young lady in question hadn’t been participating in outdoor activities…but she had been playing a great deal g2g1bet of PlayStation. Aha!
Sure enough, after 10 days spent avoiding the console, the girl’s condition cleared right up, and the British Journal of Dermatology got a new entry in the form of PlayStation palmar hidradenitis.
Of course video game consoles have been hurting us since the very beginning of the industry. I used to have to tape my hands because the Atari 2600 joystick had torn the skin between my thumb and forefinger to shreds. I think the main difference between this case and all of the cases before it is that the parents didn’t have enough sense to put two and two together and had to get doctors involved.
Researchers are calling this a physical symptom of video game addiction, similar to the acute tendinitis that has been reported by playing too much Nintendo Wii. It should be noted, however, that no one has ever listed tennis elbow as a symptom of tennis addiction. Just something to think about.
A Sony Computer Entertainment Europe representative was quick to reply to the BBC.
“As with any leisure pursuit there are possible consequences of not following common sense, health advice and guidelines, as can be found within our instruction manuals.
“PlayStation was launched in 1995 and has sold hundreds of millions of consoles over the last 13 years.
“We do not wish to belittle this research and will study the findings with interest. This is the first time we have ever heard of a complaint of this nature.”
See? Because most people can make the association between too much game playing and sores on their palms. Thanks a lot, little Swiss girl.
Game consoles ’cause skin sores’ [BBC – Thanks David!]