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Your Saree Love Could Increase Your Risk of Skin Cancer, Know Why

Your Saree Love Could Increase Your Risk of Skin Cancer, Know Why

Do you love wearing a saree every day? Beware, tight pulling may cause skin cancer, doctors in Bihar and Maharashtra warned on Wednesday.

After treating two women with this type of malignancy, doctors from Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in Wardha and Madhubani Medical College and Hospital in Bihar warned that a tightly tied belt on the petticoat (petticoat) is traditionally worn under the saree, especially in rural areas. India, can cause constant friction associated with chronic inflammation, leading to skin ulceration and, in some cases, skin cancer.

The phenomenon was previously described as “sari cancer” but was blamed on the tightness of the waist cord, doctors noted in a study published in BMJ Case Reports, calling it “petticoat cancer”.

In the first case, a 70-year-old woman sought medical attention for a painful skin ulcer on her right side that had been present for 18 months and had not healed. The surrounding skin has lost pigmentation. She wore the petticoat under the Nauvari sari, which was tied tightly around her waist.

Doctors performed a biopsy that revealed the woman had a Marjolin’s ulcer, also known as squamous cell carcinoma (an ulcerating skin cancer).

Another woman, about 60 years old, consulted doctors about an ulcer on her right side that had not healed for two years. For 40 long years, she wore a traditional lugda sari every day, which was tied very tightly at the waist with no petticoat.

The biopsy sample showed that she also had a Marjolin’s ulcer. When she was diagnosed, the cancer had already spread to one of the lymph nodes in her groin.

Marjolin’s ulcer is rare but aggressive. According to doctors, it develops in chronic burns, non-healing wounds, ulcers on the legs, tuberculous nodules on the skin, as well as in scars from vaccinations and snake bites.

The doctors noted that while the exact mechanism by which chronic ulcers or wounds become malignant remains unknown, “every skin lesion that is chronically irritated (chronically inflamed) has been shown to have a higher risk of developing malignant transformation.”

“Continuous pressure on the waist often leads to skin atrophy, which eventually breaks down, forming an erosion or ulcer,” they added.

Experts said that this ulcer often “does not heal completely due to the constant pressure of tight clothing. The result is a chronic, non-healing wound that can develop malignant changes.”

Health experts recommend wearing a loose petticoat under the sari to relieve pressure on the skin, and wearing loose clothing if skin problems develop to allow the area to heal.