Freckles Frozen Off With Dry Ice (Feb, 1933)
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1933
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I’m going to guess that freckle used to be synonymous with mole. Otherwise, this could take a while. Also, I love the assumption that readers are all white.
Freckles Frozen Off With Dry Ice
FREEZING off freckles by means of pencils of compressed carbon dioxide snow, often called “dry ice,” is a new method of getting rid of these skin blemishes devised by an Italian physician, Dr. M. Matarasso. The dry ice, which will freeze all human tissues solid after contact of more than a few moments, is compressed into a small stick or pencil, sharp-pointed like a lead pencil. The point of this pencil of concentrated cold then is pressed against each freckle in turn for three seconds. After the colored skin of the freckle drops off in about a week, the new skin thus disclosed is white and unmarked.
I don’t think so. Moles weren’t usually seen as detriments to beauty, but freckles were considered to be little short of birth defects. There were tons of patent medicines sold for the sole purpose of removing freckles from the face. (And yes, they were thought to be superficial, and it was thought that they could be peeled off with the right drug.)
Americans sometimes assume that this was caused by anti-Irish prejudices, but the bigotry goes further back than even that: during the time of the Inquisition and the expulsion of the Jews from many countries in Europe, freckles were thought of as a sign of Jewish blood.
Comment by Charlene — October 28, 2009 @ 2:42 pm
I’ve also come across ‘home remedies’ to get rid of freckles, from rubbing your skin with half a lemon to bathing in a weak bleach solution.
And when makeup became socially acceptable, most women used pancake foundation to cover up their complexions.
Comment by katey — October 28, 2009 @ 11:14 pm
We all know that ginger kids have no souls… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_kids
Comment by Emad — October 29, 2009 @ 5:01 pm
My wife has freckles. A lot of them! On our second date she gave me a little wooden sign that says “A face without freckles is like a sky without stars.” I was never a fan of freckle faced red heads until I met her, now I cannot imagine how plain her face would look without them.
Comment by Chuck — November 2, 2009 @ 1:36 am
That remedy is still around but is used for warts, which really need to go as they are a nasty infection that has no business on skin.
Comment by A Woman — December 12, 2009 @ 4:51 pm
Didn’t this just burn people, badly, on their faces?
Oy, what people do because of, basically, self hatred. I mean, dry ice when nothing is wrong with you!
Isn’t red hair cool because it is rare and freckles just come along with red hair? I do not understand people, never did.
James Cagney barely shows up in photographs, except for his freckles, when he is not wearing a lot of make-up.
charlene–I never heard that inquisition/Jewish thing, but it sounds pretty believable.
Chuck–you are adorable!
addie B)
Comment by addie — December 20, 2009 @ 4:37 pm
This technique is still around – it’s a form of minor cryosurgery. These days it’s more common to use liquid nitrogen, but occasionally they still use dry ice, or a fluid cooled with dry ice.
It basically kills tissue on contact and the area of skin will fall off. It’s done very commonly as a simple way of removing warts and sometimes small skin cancers. It’s also used to remove growths like skin tags or occasionally large moles, if the person doesn’t like them or considers them unsightly.
I’ve never heard of it being used to remove freckles. It seems a bit extreme. Sure, it *could* be used as a means of removing a freckle. Of course, it runs the risk of leaving a small scar in its place. I guess if you really hate your freckles, it might be worth it.
Comment by Steve Packard — December 29, 2009 @ 4:05 pm
I’ve got one on my penis. (Not the head.) It sounds to me that removing it with dry ice would REALLY hurt
Comment by Sam Hilberg — February 4, 2010 @ 12:51 am