Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine - Sawbones: Freckles

Episode Date: May 27, 2018

Here in our hemisphere, the sun is brutalizing us even now, weeks away from the start of summer. For many, that means the return of freckles. But where are these little guys coming from? And how can we burn them off with acid? This week, Sawbones asks the tough questions. Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers

Saubones is a show about medical history, and nothing the hosts say should be taken as medical advice or opinion. It's for fun. Can't you just have fun for an hour and not try to diagnose your mystery boil? We think you've earned it. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy a moment of distraction from that weird growth. You're worth it. that weird growth. You're worth it. Alright, time is about to books. One, two, one, two, three, four. We came across a pharmacy with a doin' that's lost it out. We pushed on through the broken glass and had ourselves a look around.

Some medicines, some medicines, the escalant macaque for the mouth. Hello everybody. Welcome to Saul Bones, Maryland to have misguided medicine. I'm your co-host Justin McElroy. And I'm Sydney McElroy. Well, Sid, the sun is back. Yeah, did it. You mean like each day? Making it's present. No. And like in the morning? Yes, except now it's back with the vengeance. The sun is here to exert its will over us

the common folk. I kind of skipped spring, I feel like. I mean, it is still technically spring, but yeah, like May. Like spring didn't happen. May, like late May, here on West Virginia at 90 degrees today, about done sizzled myself on the way into the hunting mall, just trying to take my family to the gap. You know, it's not the heat that'll get you, it's the humidity. Yeah, and also the heat is a lot. Yeah, but people like to say that about humidity a lot.

That's a thing. But my thing I normally come back to him with is like, yeah, but it's also very hot currently. That's true. Is the thing that I say back to them. You gotta, yeah, it's also very hot currently. That's true. Is a thing that I say back to them. You got to be careful out in the sun. So we've talked about that before at length, and this is the time of year that I like to

remind people, and we wanted to wait into that to give our skin care spiel. So sit it upon the idea of freckles, which is weird we haven't talked about before. Well, it is, but it's also one of those topics that isn't really, it's not medicine per se, except that it was. It was, but now it isn't. Is this what you're telling me? Well, it's one of those things that we hit on these topics sometimes on sawbounds that you wouldn't think of freckles as like a thing you would talk to your doctor about. Except for a lot of time, well, for a lot of history people did. So, okay, well, listen, now I'm on the edge of the game. So, it's fair game. I'm on the edge of my seat. As you can see, my wrinkles, my wrinkles,

my wrinkles too. My freckles are very prominently displayed. Is that time of year? You know what Jimmy Buffett says about wrinkles? Tell me. Rinkles only go where the smiles have been. Thank you. Yes. Thank you, Sydney. I needed that. What are his quoting, somebody?

Probably. I could Google it if you wanted. I don't know. Let's do this. That's in a song, though. Okay. Anyway, thank you to Annie and Susanna and Aaron and Colony and Michael and Abigail and Max for recommending this topic of freckles.

Freckles. Freckles. So what are freckles. Freckles. Freckles. So what are freckles? Because you asked me that. Sometimes Sidney plays a game where it's, the game is, and she always says it was researching, and the game is, what's the common man now? And she likes to tap her old buddy, J-Man,

for that experiment. It's usually like, hey, do you know what freckles are? And then I stumble through it very incompetently. And then Sidney goes, okay, got it. Thanks. I just want to make sure before I go to in depth into explaining something that it's not common knowledge. Sometimes I lose track of what everybody knows and what I learned in med school.

Yeah. Freckles are the result. But you said melanin. I did say melanin or I might have said melatonin. Poops does get those confused from time to time. Melatonin is a hormone in your brain that tells you it's sleepy time. Are you going to tell me they don't sound a lot of like melanin? It's pigment in your skin.

Okay, but like you're not giving me pneumatic devices. I understand that when you say it. I'm supposed to give information. There's information. Okay, thank you for the data. So you can have increased concentrations of melanin in certain areas of your skin because of the cells that are in those areas, specifically melanocytes, which produce melanin, makes sense, right? And if, and in a lot of people, those can be kind of spread evenly all over the body, which means

everything kind of gets lighter or darker depending on the time of year at the same rate. But in people with freckles, you will see there are clusters of these melanocytes in different places. And so melanin is produced in higher concentrations in those little clusters, and hence you get freckles. Okay, but why? This is genetic differences. There's a gene actually linked to this, the MC1R gene, and it contributes to the creation of a slightly different kind of pigment, and then this clustering of cells as well as, it's also linked to red hair, which is why you so commonly see people with red hair have freckles. Right.

But not all people with red hair have freckles because not all people with red hair have this specific gene mutation. So it's important to know that's a common misconception. The two are always hand in hand. Yeah, and they're not. So melanin is produced when you're exposed to sun. Okay. So that's an interesting point because you wouldn't necessarily notice your freckles unless you were exposed to sun. I mean some people do. Yes. But the more sun you get, the more your freckles show. And then when you are not getting

as much sun, they fade. Okay. Would you say that's fair as a freckled individual? Yes, as someone who lives with freckles every day, I can say that is accurate. And melanin is actually kind of like sunglasses for your skin. Go on. It helps to kind of protect your skin. Okay. That's what it's purpose is. The pigment melanin. Okay, but do I, am I better protected then?

No. Is that something people with freckles are like at a high risk of skin cancer? You are. I was gonna say that at the end, but you are. Oh, okay, well I'm sorry I ruined it. But that, no, that's okay. I mean, that's are. I was going to say that at the end, but you are. Oh, okay. Well, I'm sorry I ruined it. But that, no, that's okay.

I mean, it's a good point to know. But that's good. It's good to get to that helpful information out now. If they stop listening to podcasts, like midway through, they forget they can get a sandwich or something. They've got that life-saving information. No, I mean, if you think about it, if you have melanin more evenly distributed and more of it all over your body that would be

more protective than just little clusters. Oh I guess you're right. It's kind of like it's kind of like it's like sunglasses with a bunch of holes in them. There you go. Okay. Or like if you put on your sunscreen and little dollops all over your body and didn't spread it out. Yeah. Yeah. Have you ever heard them refer to as angels kisses? No. I... A lot of angel related stuff. People like to dig up on babies. A lot of like angel bites.

Yeah, like when you... Stork bites. Stork bite. Well, no, stork bite is on your neck. Angel bite is in your ear. It's an angel kiss. I thought. What?

There's no angel bite. Angel bite is when you have a little divot in your ear You're so sweet the angels took a little nibbler. I thought my mom just called it that okay It might just be your mom that does sound like a very your mom That's weird if there's something if we insinuate that sometimes angels bite you yes Cuz they know it's cuz when you're coming through the bay or belt you just look so sweet They just had to take a nimble well anyway I've never heard of freckles called angels kiss. Tweeter Sydney, if you've heard angel bites before or after mom. Wait, you can

tell me about that, but I had never heard of angels kisses, but as I researched freckles, I will tell you that this is a widespread term, at least on the internet, among people who write articles about freckles. Okay. There's also apparently an Irish proverb that says, a face without freckles is like a night without stars. That's beautiful. I love that. Yeah. And freckles are just a difference in skin appearance. That's, that's it. I mean, I described why they happen. But throughout history, there have been a lot of diverse opinions about why they happen and whether or not we should do something about someone has to stop these

freckles. So if we go all the way back to ancient Rome, clear complexions, like smooth, even colored throughout complexions were prized. So it wasn't that freckles were bad. It's just that you didn't want, you didn't want any variation in your skin tone. You were like, right, nice even, smooth. Yeah. That was the beauty ideal. So Romans would use like lead-based chemical peels with things like vinegar or mercury in them.

Good job, y'all. To try to even their skin tone. Obviously, this is dangerous. Yes. Don't do this thing. We're going to do this a lot, though, in this episode. OK. People do this a lot.

Now, if that sounds a little too basic for you, maybe you want to try something a little more exotic. Maybe you want to use some crocodile intestines or crocodile dung if you don't want to mess with the intestines or a ferrian fish, and those were supposedly helpful in removing frackles. Cockatow dung, the lightful. See, I was trying to get...

I don't know where you're going. I was trying to get to try to knock it out, dung thee. But it just wasn't there. It wasn't there, Sid. It's been a long day. It just wasn't there, right? You know, who also didn't didn't bring it home with this one is plenty of the elder. In addition to Justin, plenty of the elder. Here's another historical figure that didn't bring it home to bacon.

Plenty of the elder had a lot of recommendations for fr recommendations for fracals, but none of them are particularly funny. They're just like there's a root called white birene, and there's an oil of ballenus fig mixed with fennue Greek. Four laurel berries mixed in oil, specifically four. I thought that was odd. Just get four of them. Powdered Myrtle leaves. The only thing I found interesting about that is that I guess powdered Myrtle leaves are also good for hangnails. And I am baffled that there was a point in history

where there was any treatment for hangnails other than like cut it off. Right. Why were you putting powdered myrtle? What were you hoping for? So anyway, plenty of the elder had a lot of food. I like that plenty of the elder has the sort of status that even when he doesn't have the good stuff to bring, he still gets on the show.

Like he's sort of like Martin Short, you know what I mean? He didn't have something to promote, but he's just great to have on the show. Well, he's happy to be. He's just like, he always delivers and like, we're just happy to have him around. It's okay that it doesn't have any heat to bring. It's just, it never fails. If I'm trying to find some more stuff for an episode and I Google plenty of the elder and whatever the topic is, something comes up. Yeah. There's always something. Um, during the Middle Ages, we did all kinds of crazy things in general, but specifically for Freckles, we didn't want to use the same lead-based cosmetics that we had used in the past,

which is good. Who wise-dump? Right. We got there. We turned to more natural methods, you know, other ways of trying Middle Ages. I'm sorry, I dumped on you for so long. So you could try maybe boil some oatmeal and vinegar together. And smear that on your face.

Oh, let's better than eat it. Or you could use a bull's blood or hair's blood. It's either from a gigantobull or a tiny hair, but we don't know. just get some of the blood. I think if I had to choose, sorry, Peter Conte, I'd probably go ahead and slice him up, rather than a bull. Right, well, I mean, if you're talking about

what are you more likely to survive, I would say the bunny. Yeah, and it's like, if we don't know, or can we just all decide bunny? Well, that's fair. Maybe we just all settle in there. Why do you so bowl in there? It's like you'd be so jaz to find a substitute for For you think that would eliminate the need like why would you include that in a pharmacopia ginger Matador like stabbing like what are you doing? This is this is illegal now like no, it's for my freckles. It also helps if you cover the hair's blood or bull's blood if you're so inclined with

a sheep leather bandaid. A what? A bandaid made out of sheep leather. Sheep leather, okay. Sure. Or, this was my favorite, you could get an amethyst and lick it and then rub it on your face. Yeah.

Yeah. Not for fr Yeah. Not for fr Not for fracals, just for fun. No, it wasn't, it was supposed to be your fracals. It wasn't supposed to be your fracals. It wasn't supposed to be your fracals.

There's like rubbing amethyst on it. Well, you lick it first and then you rub it. Oh, okay. You lick it and then you rub it on it. I had rubbed bad for being such a judgmental. I didn't know you liked it first. I have an amethyst around my neck right now. Do you want to see me? Yeah, we never put these to good use. You're gonna rub my, I'm extending my right arm.

Rubberstone on your face. I'm extending my right arm. And Sydney's gonna lick her necklace. You're not doing it. This isn't for the podcast. Look your necklace. Okay, I like my necklace. Okay, I looked at my necklace. You're pretending. Stop. This is for science. Okay. Okay, you looked at your necklace. Now I want to reach it. Okay. There. Now your hands wet. Now how long is this supposed to? I don't know. They didn't give specifics. Hey, listen. They're gone. It's working. Sydney we're gonna need a bigger necklace and a bigger tongue and more wives. Don't spread this misinformation. Hey I'm just saying it's working amazing. They're disappearing before my eyes. There's a recipe. Oh no, my skin is

is becoming translucent. It's working too well. We've why have we been trying these all this time Sydney we've been lambasting the past without actually putting this to the test. This is amazing. Who knew you were just one giant freckle? I was just a freckle. Oh no, no one disappeared. Sydney,

curse you, middle-aged. We can't record this late at night. I bought a bubble bomb. I'm loving it, whatever. There is a recipe book made by a surhu plat who put together a lot of different concoctions. My name is Sir Hugh Platte. I don't take care of these freckles.

For your skin, ways to take care of your skin. He called his book Delights for Ladies. My book of course is Delights for Ladies. I'm the worst. Thank you so much sir, Platt. I needed a delight. One recommendation is that you take some tansy weed and strawberries and milk. It's actually my business card. I'm so mad that he stole that. strawberries and milk. It's actually my business card. So I'm so mad that he stole that. Of course, there were things like, you could wash your face with boiled elder leaves at midnight during a full moon. Oh, so romantic. And then he returned to the oatmeal and vinegar face mask if all else failed. Do you think that they, I was thinking about this a few episodes ago? Do you

think that old-time people made some of these more Convocated so that they have stuff to fall back on when it doesn't work like was it exactly midnight? Was it 1201 was it like nine for sure right? It's sort of like the way you just didn't you didn't have enough faith in it kind of You know you didn't believe that's why you're wasting country. You didn't believe hard enough A common superstition during the Middle Ages. So a lot of these I'm kind of referencing these methods to remove freckles because it was the fashion it was for you know beauty reasons cosmetic reasons for a lot of people. But there was also a superstition that people who had freckles especially women more so. that people who had freckles, especially women, more so. But all people who had freckles were in somehow communication with the devil.

And that these marks were marks of their allegiance to the devil. Just women with freckles, is that what you said? It was more like, well, it was associated with the accusations of witchcraft. So yes. So yeah, so there was this belief that freckles were a sign that you were

consorting with dark magics and and that um you would die in early death. Okay. I guess because of your which the hang out with the devil thing. I guess. Yeah. Uh, in the Renaissance, and we've talked about this before on like our the devil is an epic person. The devil is an epic person. The devil is an epic person. The devil, Bert Post. Bacon. Yeah, really any processed meat.

Thanks. You're welcome. So in the Renaissance women used, and we've talked about this before, the Venetian Ceruse to cover your freckles. It had lead in Mercury in it. It was like a thick white stuff to make your face look really pale. And there's a thought that maybe people even died from this, from using this, from inhaling like lead fumes from the foundation.

In the colonial period, Dali Madison was kind of the the fashion icon. Expert. No, but everyone will look like her. So everybody wanted to have pale skin and pink cheeks. And so you could use things like one thing that people would use was called the Rose Complexion Mask, which is made from mixing together crushed rose petals, honey, oil of tartar, vinegar, and rye meal. And then you leave it on overnight to harden and wash it off with lemon juice. That sounds kind of nice actually. And then you can look like Dalley Madison.

Didn't look like a sense of, I don't know, like Dalley Parton, if I have my choice. Is that a really? I mean, between you two. You want to look like Dalley Parton? It's kind of an icon of mine, sure. Okay. I mean, just between you. Oh, you can? Like, I'm not stopping to you I just didn't know you okay. Do you even know what Dolly Madison looked like? She's the cupcake lady Snack cakes the first lady Dolly Madison Dolly Madison did do some snack cakes there, right? Right Dolly Man, I think she's the first late. She was the first she was married.

Yeah, Donnie Madison. Yeah, Zingers. Stop Lee Madison. She did Zingers. That's the main one is Zingers right now for her. Well, maybe she'll come out with some new ones. Maybe Donnie Madison will come out with some new snack cakes. And if all this fails, maybe Dolly Parton will.

Maybe I would eat Dolly Parton brand singers, although the end of the two of them would be in legal hot water. And we don't need that. Hey, Justin. Yeah. Let's go to the billing department. Let's go. The medicines, the medicines that I you let my God for the mouth.

So Sid, where were we? Where are we about to enter the Victorian era, if memory serves? That's right. So, as we approach the Victorian era, as I've said so far, the main methods people use to rid themselves of freckles if they so desired, well, they didn't work. And so makeup was often sure, often what people, yeah, relied on. Well, Queen Victoria called the use of makeup, impolite and vulgar. Okay, kind of cheating, cheating for the face. So face sheets, like

so as a result, a lot of people and largely, again, these probably were mostly women during the Victorian period wanted to hide their freckles, but couldn't with makeup because now that had been declared vulgar, but they also weren't supposed to have freckles because it was still the fashion to have very even toned skin. And freckles were also at this point associated more with like the working class because if you're outside more your freckles were more likely to show whereas if you were wealthy and could be inside all day. Boy the harsh race. Exactly. Exactly. So you had to find a lot, you had to find

some sort of product to remove your freckles without hiding them with makeup. And this is where we see things like Dr. McKenzie's improved harmless arsenic wafers. I feel like the heart putting harmless in the name of a medication is like, especially you follow it directly with arsenic. Feels a lot like me thinks that I lost pretty much. There's so much in this I love. It they're improved.

Yes, much better than the previous only mildly harmless. I was going to say where they were they previously Dr. McKenzie's harmful arsenic wafer. Hyper deadly. Now, Dr. McKenzie's improved harmless arsenic waafers that you could just you know rub on your skin and their Boom freckles gone. There is People also good is this is harmless. We bet people were still using things like mercury and also carbolic acid great

Me to try to remove freckles. Obviously, all these things could damage your sick, good damage your skin and make you make you quite ill. Justin, why are those little dots all over your skin? Oh, these, they're scars. I did a terrible job with my carbol gases. But at least they're not freckles. Not freckles. They got to admit that. The, I thought it was interesting. I found a note as to what was the thought process. People were trying to remove their freckles or cover their freckles. Everybody hated their freckles. Did doctors weigh in at all as to like why do I'm sure people went and said why do I have

these freckles? Is there something I could do? A medicine I could take or like a thing I could eat or stop doing to get rid of them. And people did indeed do that. And doctors did indeed have a theory as to why freckles happened. So it's largely based on the theory of the four humors. Okay.

Which we've talked about before, right? Blood, bile, yellow bile, and flim? No. Well, yes, blood, flim, yellow bile, and black bile. Black bile. Yeah. So you had to balance out your four humors in order to maintain health. blood, flim, yellow bile, and black bile. Black bile. Yeah. Right. So you had to balance out your four humors in order to maintain health.

And if you got too much of a humor, you could get sick in various ways or too little of a humor. And there were foods you could eat to combat that. And then if all else failed, we would bleed you or make you throw up or give you something that would be like a laxative or a diuretic. Anyway, so the based on the humoral theory of medicine, during the summer months when it is hot, the liver naturally produces more yellow bile. Okay.

Okay, you got to follow this. Okay. This was, I don't know why because it was hot, I suppose. I have no idea why, but anyway, in the summer, the liver makes more yellow by. So the skin at the time was believed to be made up of like a collection of molecules, which I mean, like this is a sort of Drew, like a collector.

And that this contained oxygen and hydrogen and carbon. And it was thought that when it was hot, oxygen would sort of separate itself from these other molecules and absorb and bind substances around it. There's something that's funny to me than people once we got to a point where we did understand like the basic building blocks and then just taking absolute shots of the darker about how they all like kind of work together. So, I mean, this is, and this is where things start to get really weird. So, in the summer, the liver is making extra bile.

It's floating around in your blood. And it was yellow, but there was also a brownish component to it. It was thought related to iron. Sure, right, rust, and this is getting deposited in the skin because there's so much of it. Yes. And binding to this oxygen that's in your skin and is all excited because it's hot. Okay. And then you get a freckle. Okay, it makes so much more sense acidity. And if it happens to a large extent, you get a tan.

Oh, okay. Now, that's dumb. Like that's dumb. It's easy to track the one-to-one on tans. That's not hard to track. Well, I mean, the other thing that it was like cooking in is like radiating, okay. It was like the iron being deposited in your skin, basically. But what's interesting about all this theory

is that because they blamed all this on the liver, on a problem with your liver, your liver is making too much bile, and that's why this is happening. Freckles began to be known as liver spots, which is a term that persists to this very day. More applicable to like the elderly, but... Sure, which are...

Same idea. They're talking about slightly different kinds, like the larger freckles, which still are related to sun, like the liver spots or something, like sun spots. Yeah. That's why we call them that.

I've always wondered... So it's always called... Liver spots based on the humoral system? Yes, that comes from the humoral system of mess, which obviously is not true, but that. I've always wondered. So it's always wondered. Liver spots based on the humoral system. Yes, that comes from the humoral system in the mess, which obviously is not true, but that's where that name comes. And I've always wondered that, because I know when a patient asks me,

is this a liver spot? I know what they mean. And I'll tell them yes, because what they're asking me is true. Right. But I've always wondered, why don't we even call them that? It has nothing to do with the liver.

That's so weird. And it's just sun, it's just sun and melanin. Why are we calling them that? That's why because of the hemosis. So there you go. That's why liver spots are called they have nothing to do with your liver This is also why however doctors would prescribe you treatments for your freckles at this point in history things like bloodletting Oh, man treatments for your freckles at this point in history, things like bloodletting. Oh man. Yeah, or they would give you a laxative or they would give you some sort of emetics or something that would make you throw up. Just a way to, they were attempting to get the yellow bile out of your system to stop the freckles from forming. So, so there you go, that was that was the medical treatment for freckles.

Um, there were some other over the counter and and kind of like pharmaceutical creams that were invented things like Dr. Hebris Viola cream. Um, that which is great for maintaining your Viola for starters. Um, it, it's funny because it contained mercury, which people didn't figure out to that, but they'd used it for a while. And then you could have, like, at home recipes that you could make for yourself, like this pomade for freckles that has, like, citrine oil and oil of almonds and the oil from a sperm whale and some oil of roses.

Sure, yeah, just get all those things. Just get, like, you can easily obtain at home oil from a sperm whale. I feel like some, this is like those recipes sometimes I find first lime that Charlie wants to make at home We're like like most of the stuff is stuff I already have and then they'll throw in there like also some borax And I'm like wait what? I Don't have some micro some micro bead Yeah, oh, I got all right. Well, I don't just have then then charge the way y'all The microbeads don't don't don't don't they are these tiny

Lighter than air things that are if you breathe near them They're everywhere like as soon as you breathe you don't blow on you just breathe Static literature is these things since these things fly you will never get to my lot of your house. Please, just like, if your kids like, hey, this is what we need, microbead, fill, like look them dead in the eye and say they don't make that anymore. It's illegal.

And if any of your friends have it, they're criminal. Justin made it illegal. I made it illegal. Justin, a podcast made it illegal. Podcast man Justin said, this is a crime now to have this. So we've talked again a lot about now freckles in the basis of like cosmetic preferences

and standards of beauty. And then there was this association with possibly some sort of liver disease. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, there was another reason why people attempted to hide their freckles and unfortunately a very racist reason. So freckles on a white person were seen as a sign that they were not completely a white person. And so a lot of people attempted to hide their freckles to try to maintain some sort of to try to maintain some sort of racial purity, kind of, you know, like look, basically. I'm just rising, still gross, I'm just rising. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And unfortunately, there were a lot of very extreme measures

that came out of that to read yourself for freckles thing. Like, I found this awful picture of somebody who was having a treatment done with dry ice, where they were basically just sitting in a doctor's chair and having dry ice supplied all over their face to try to, to get rid of them. And skin bleaches came out to just bleach your skin. Yeah, ugh.

So that's still a thing, right, people? Still, still done. Yeah, you can still find skin bleaches available To to use for freckles and then for skin lightning and yeah, if yeah and and certainly I'm talking this episode is about freckles I'm talking about freckles obviously These methods may have been employed by people who who were people of color trying to avoid discrimination Yeah, not just people with freckles

who were discriminated against for that reason. It wasn't until TANs began to become popular that freckles started to follow. And we talked about this on our sunscreen episode, I think, that it was Coco Chanel, who fell asleep on her yacht and came back with a tan and then all of a sudden and then all of a sudden, tans were popular and as tans became popular and they began to be associated instead of a like working class kind of view of tans people began to associate tans with being outside and being like youthful and vigorous and, you know, hiking and boating and whatever, whatever people, I don't know, what do people

do outside? I find that they're often employed to give a quality of like, like, girl next door. You know what I mean? Like, she's just, she's just regular folks. Yes, she is a tan she's just regular folks. Yes, she has a tan. She has a tan. And Freckles kind of started to call us too.

I was talking about Freckles specifically. Like, you know what I mean? I feel like Freckles are like employed to do the like, you grew up next to her, your whole life and now you're in high school to get. You know what I mean? Like that gross group. Well, I do think that in the fashion world, that is what freckles began to represent.

You know, freckles and a ponytail and then all of a sudden you were youthful and, you know, your Betty Cooper, right? Like that's what we're going for. Yeah, well, Betty Cooper, I bought her, right? Yeah, and I don't think she had Freckles either, right? She could have. She could have. That's true lots of people could have had Freckles two dimensional comic book character They didn't have a lot of I was thinking Betty Draper my mistake. Sorry That's what that's all me. Sorry. Okay. Now from Archie's Yes, I got it.

I mean, she was no, I mean, there are no freckles on her face, but I think it would be very hard to represent that easily. That's true. I don't know, Betty Cooper could have had freckles. Nobody ever in Archie comics has time to draw those freckles. The girl next door. They were given one Archie sometimes. So by the 90s, not only were freckles acceptable, they were sought after so much so that in 1995 Chanel introduced the first faux freckle pencil.

And you will see this, actually it's very common on runways. You'll see a lot of models who have been made up with faux freckles. And not only just like in an attempt to look like natural freckles, but like multi-colored freckles, like purple and pink and red. You know those are freckles. Right. I mean those obviously are not real meant to be real freckles, but they're they're used again to give the fashion line like a hint of like look at these young, healthy people. Fresh-faced youth with their beautiful freckles. And obviously our definition of beauty when it comes to complexion and skin color and everything is much better, much broader than it used to be.

We are not encouraging everybody. We have veered far from the days when you may, for instance, get tuberculosis so that you would have a very pale gaunt look. Right. Because that was in style for a while. Obviously, we've moved far away from that. And and whether you have freckles or not, all of it is beautiful. There you go, said. Great. So in terms of medicine, though, freckles, clearly you're not related of it is beautiful. There you go, said. Great. So in terms of medicine though, freckles clearly are not related to liver disease. Thank you.

So I mean, feel free to call them liver spots if you want because everybody knows what you're talking about, but they're not. But then drop that trivia on them. They're not related to your liver. They have nothing to do with dark magic as far as I know. I'm not an expert in that. Thank you for clarifying.

Yeah, but they're not. As you said, Justin, freckled people generally maybe at high risk of skin cancer. So if you are somebody who has a lot of freckles, it might be a good idea to get regular skin checks with your doctor. And what I mean by that is we just kind of strip you down and look at you.

You're not getting your whole butt. Well, yes, your butt, but like all the other part. Sure, sure, two. Sure, sure, sure. I mean, that's not the most common place to sit. But I know where you all start, and I know where you all like the linger. No, no, no. My mistake.

But it's good to get regular skin checks, and if you see anything that you don't like the look of, go in and have your doctor check it out right away. Freckles are not cancerous though. I think it's important to make that distinction. Even though it puts you at higher risk of skin cancer, the freckles themselves are not going to become cancer. It's just the association, the genetic association.

They are linked to sun definitely. So for whatever reason, you don't like your freckles I'm gonna say that's your preference. Yeah, you should say that son you should wear sunscreen anyway Everybody should be wearing their sunscreen. Are you kidding me? It's 2018 you know better She should wear sunscreen. I mean because if you and I found this note again and again And I hadn't really thought about it. You're not born with freckles. Mm-hmm. Have you ever seen a freckled baby? No No, it's not exposure Have you ever seen a freckled baby? No.

No. It's sonic exposure. You have the pre... I mean, it's the melanocytes are there. But. But it's the sonic exposure that triggers the melanin production and makes freckles happen. So, you know, you should... And obviously, you don't need to wear your sunscreen to avoid your freckles.

I think freckles are really lovely. I always wish I had them. But I just have them on my shoulders. I have very freckly shoulders. But I've never hadles are really lovely. I wish I had them. But I just have them on my shoulders. I have very freckly shoulders, but I've never had any on my face. But the important thing is where your sunscreen is. But yes, you should wear your sunscreen. Yes. Whether or not you like the look of your freckles.

Freckles are now. These wear your sunscreen. Freckles are now. Stay out of tanning beds. Avoid burns at all costs. Wear sunscreen and embrace your freckles. And destroy all tanning beds. That's my new thing.

I'm actually going to get a shirt. Destroy all tanning beds And destroy all tany beds. That's my new thing. I'm actually gonna get a shirt. Destroy all tany beds. Destroy all tany beds. What do you think about that? You can do that. I'm just gonna keep pushing the sunscreen. No, I love that. We should work out it for the free.

You gotta reapply if you've been wet or sweating a lot. You need definitely need to reapply. That stuff wears off. Thank you all so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you have enjoyed yourself. Please just wear your sunscreen. If you take nothing else away from this, please swear to the sunscreen. I want to say thank you to people who sent some stuff in the PO box.

We got a blanket from Sarah Braxton, sent some beautiful troll cards. Grace sent a goop needle point that is out of control funny. Georgia sent a book, Ava sent a book, Cheryl sent a charter grade purse, I-L-M for the OB textbook, Kelsey for matching hats. I'm sorry if I missed pronounced that I-L-M.

I took my mesh shot. Aisling sent graduation, brainstorming and necklace and Kristen sent beer and glasses. So thanks y'all for the gifts. We appreciate it. And of course, all the cards and letters and wedding invites. Thank you, Colin. We read it all and appreciate it all.

And which would live the sort of lives that we can respond to it all? That would delight me to know. And I very much. It comes to all your weddings. Yeah, I would love to come to all the weddings. But we are. Thanks to Max Fun Network for hashing us as a part of their extended podcasting family. You can find all their great shows at maximumfun.org.

Thanks to TaxPairs for letting this user song medicines as the intro and outro of our program. I believe Sydney is going, oh, got a book. Make it a book. Come now on October, bit.ly-forge-slash-solbones-book. Words by us. Illustrations by Taylor Schmeral, Sydney sister and a very talented artist to check it out.

You can see the cover now. Oh, it's so cool. Look. Yeah, it's really cool. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. Yeah, it's really cool. I'm so excited. I'm so excited.

I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. you for doing that. We really appreciate it. But that

is going to do it first for this week. So until next week, my name is Justin McRoy. Justin McRoy. And as always, don't, Joe Ho in your head. Alright! Maximumfund.org Comedy and Culture, Artistone Listen or Supported. The Dead Pilots Society podcast brings you hilarious comedy pilots that were never made featuring actors like Aubrey Plaza, Andy Richter, Paul F. Tomkins, John Hodgman, Adam Scott, Molly Shannon, Busy Phillips, Tom Lennon, Anna Camp, Laurie Metcalf, Alicia Day, Michaeline Black, Adam Savage, Paul Sheer, Ben Schwartz, Skylar Astin, May Whitman,

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