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Although the body is protected by the immune system, only a small proportion of people do not experience inflammatory problems...

Introduction. The condition of skin, nails and hair depends on a diet. Proper diet ought to include all components necessary to ensure a well-balanced intake of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and elements. Dynamic development of the dietary supplement industry offers an expanding range of products aimed to improve the condition of skin, hair and nails.Aim. To study the issue of using dietary supplements aimed to improve skin and its appendages by men and women (in particular: studying the reason for such supplementation, determining the source of information about the supplements, evaluating the knowledge of the respondents and the effect of the supplements).Material and methods. The questionnaire-based study was conducted in 2013–2014, in a group of 115 people (65 women and 50 men), aged 16–60 years, who had been using dietary supplements designed to ensure proper appearance of the skin, hair or nails. Statistical analysis was carried out using StatSoft Statistica 10.0 software. Results. All participants had been using various dietary supplements for at least 4 months prior to the study commencement. 73% respondents declared that their main aim was to improve the condition of the skin, hair, and nails. The main reason for supplementation was the desire to improve the condition of the hair, reported by 48% of women and 64% of men. Both, women (59%) and men (48%) decided to supplement their diet mainly under the influence of the mass media. Considerable improvement in the condition of the skin and its appendages was observed by 79% of the respondents. Adverse effects were reported by 48% of the participants (with 72% concerning gastrointestinal tract).Conclusions. 1. Information provided by the mass media remains the main cause of purchase and consumption of dietary supplements. 2. Subjective efficiency of supplementation has been confirmed by the majority of the respondents. 3. Approximately half of the studied population reported adverse effects, especially on the gastrointestinal tract.

Childhood and adolescent gynecology is an emerging specialty at the intersection of pediatrics, pediatric endocrinology gynecology pediatric surgery dermatology psychiatry, public health medicine and genetics, and in fact addresses many legal issues. Poland lacks a uniform standing of medical and legal environments on how to deal with a juvenile patient who has become sexually active and seeks the advice of a gynecologist, gynecologic examination and requests to be prescribed contraceptives. It needs to be taken into account that in Poland a parent or a legal guardian has legal guardianship, custody and control of a child until 18 years of age but once a juvenile reaches the chronological age of 16 years, and is given full rights of a patient, both parties need to consent to medical care. According to the Act on Health Care Institutions, a patient has the right to self-determination, respect for physical and mental integrity as well as privacy whereas, after the patient reaches the age of 16 years, the legal representative becomes in practice a mere co-decision maker to have medical services performed. Therefore, information obtained from a juvenile patient during physical test and medical interview does not have to be revealed to a legal representative, if the patient requests confidentiality and on condition it does not affect patient health and/or the planned medical procedures (e.g. the need to perform an operation). Knowledge about procedures for juvenile patients shall enable doctors to make conscious choices about conduct and care or in most cases, only advice, without the risk of breaching the Polish law.