Dermatologists have identified a condition they are calling 'PlayStation Palmar Hidradentisis' caused by excessive console use.
Presumably the condition also extends to thrashing the hell out of your Nintendo and Xbox 360 controllers too!
A 12-year-old girl in Switzerland had lesions on her hands after a few hours of console-based fun every day. Swiss skin specialists noted that they condition had cleared up after ten days of no play.
No gaming for you!
What a frightening thought! To gamers this is almost the equivalent of a musician losing his or her hearing, or a painter going blind.
"The lesions in the standard version of the disorder normally appear on the soles of the feet in children who play lots of sport or take part in intensive physical exercise such as jogging," reports The Telegraph this week. "It it thought to be connected to intense sweating but it is very unusual for it to appear on the hands."
Doctor Behrooz Kasraee noted in the report published in the British Journal of Dermatology that the condition was brought about by "tight and continuous grasping of the console's handgrips together with repeated pushing of the buttons which produces minor but continuous trauma to the palms of the hands', in addition to sweating that can occur if the player becomes anxious while playing the game.
Safety first, fun last
The doc also notes that: "The final diagnosis in our patient was idiopathic palmar eccrine hidradenitis. However, we propose that the variant in this patient can be labelled more specifically as 'PlayStation palmar hidradenitis'."
"Excessive video gaming is currently regarded as an alarming health issue. recent gaming-related "organic pathologies such as acute tendonitis, called Wiiitis... have been added to the list of video game-related pathologies."
A Sony Computer Entertainment rep added: "As with any leisure pursuit there are possible consequences of not following common sense, health advice and guidelines, as can be found within our instruction manuals."
