Radium Ice

["Dale E. Boyce" <dale@radpro.uchicago.edu>]

I wanted to follow up on the old thread about "radium ice" therapies.
For those of you that don't remember, I was enquiring if anyone had
heard the term use in conjunction with the removal of strawberry
birthmarks.  I was unable to find anyone who had heard the term, but
thanks to Dave Derenzo at the University of Illinois at Chicago, we
have a reasonable conjecture of what may have been the origin.

Early attempts to remove birthmarks were done with radioactive
sources, later low energy x-rays were employed.  The therapies
were successful in removing strawberry, but not port wine
birthmarks.  However,  there was frequently scarring of the
skin.  Doctors found that by packing the area with "scotch ice"
(like the blue ice packs I think) for a period prior to the
therapy, they achieved the same result with less scarring.

Dave in talking with a couple of physicians who have been in the
business for awhile found that they speculate that someone
explaining the treatment to the parents of the patient may
have either used the term or the parents misinterpretted
and coined the term themselves.  In any event, unless I hear
differently, it was not a term that was in general use.

Dale E. Boyce
dale@radpro.uchicago.edu