It’s interesting to see how people used to view radiation and how they tried to use it in innovative ways – perhaps even at the expense of people’s safety. Take for example the Shoe-Fitting Fluoroscope. Back in the day this device was used by shoe stores to take X-Rays of people’s feet to ensure that their bone structure was best fit by their potential shoe purchases. Useful? Perhaps. Dangerous? You bet.
The article doesn’t mention all the health concerns these machines brought up – a co-worker relates her own knowledge of the situation thusly:
While the articles mentions the concern over radiation exposure to the feet and to the hands of the machine operator, what it fails to mention is the greatest side affect from these machines were the cataracts it produced. As the people looked down into the machine at their feet the radiation exposure was hitting them directly in the eyes. (The eyes are one of the most susceptible body parts we have to radiation).
Another common use of the early x-ray machines was in beauty salons to remove female facial hair. The operating instructions on those machines stated “Expose the desired skin area until the skins turns pinkâ€. Little did they know that when the skin turned pink it was already a radiation burn. Again with the eyes being so close to the radiated field, cataracts were a common side affect.
Thanks Joan!
Now isn’t science grande?