Signs and symptoms Any marked delay in a child’s achieving speech or an impairment of speech raises the suspicion of a speech or hearing problem. Home care If your baby is to learn to speak adequately, he or she must be spoken to and listened to. Incorrect speech should be corrected, but a child should [...]

Much of modern life makes our eyes lazy-eye exercises appear to help improve vision simply by re-educating the eyes. There are several exercises that are claimed to help. For example, memories a small object with your eyes open, then after getting a clear mental picture, close your eyes and try to remember it as well [...]

Safety at work •     Be sure to use protective equipment, guards etc., where they are provided. If a particular situation seems to you to be dangerous and to need protective clothing or equipment, tell your manager or employer, or your union representative. •     Help newcomers to be aware of any dangers in your place of [...]

In recent years, urologists have begun to recommend to their male patients that they get into the habit of checking their testicles each month for lumps and other growths they may find there, much as a gynecologist tells her patients to check their breasts each month. Though problems occur more frequently in the prostate than [...]

When you were a kid and you had diarrhea, you’d probably do anything else but admit to it. And now that you’re an adult, you’re probably the same way. Some people act as though they’re ashamed when they have diarrhea. Diarrhea is a sudden change in your usual pattern of elimination that usually results in [...]

If you have emphysema, treatment will depend on which stage of the disease you’re in. Your doctor will want to take a full medical history and do a physical exam plus run some tests that show the extent of the damage to the lung. She will also need to measure the amount of oxygen and [...]

Description and Possible Medical Problems I can’t begin to tell you how many of my patients have had their vacations ruined by sunburn. They know the precautions to take—with high-SPF lotions and restricted exposure to the sun—but once they’re on vacation, many disregard common sense completely. A sunburn, a condition in which the skin becomes [...]

You probably didn’t notice it when it started to grow, or else you ignored it completely. After all, it was just a little lump or bump on the side of your neck. Nothing to worry about, right? It didn’t hurt; you may actually have thought it was a pimple. But that small bump on the [...]

Sometimes, when you have a headache, you’ve probably noticed that your eyes hurt as well. Eye pain frequently accompanies a headache because the nerves that enable you to move your eyes become inflamed. Not only does this create a pain in your head, the pain will probably feel even worse every time you move your [...]

Description and Possible Medical Problems Though dandruff can appear at any age, it seems to affect midlife adults more frequently. Dandruff is caused by one of two genetic skin conditions: seborrheic dermatitis, or eczema; or psoriasis. Eczema is a skin problem in which certain parts of the skin—including the scalp—turn red and flaky; they may [...]