Medicine: Sailor, Cream Yourself

A new protection against flash burns, often suffered by soldiers & sailors caught by the heat waves caused by explosions, was announced this week by the Navy Medical Research Institute at Bethesda, Md. The Institute researchers tried 70 creams before they developed one that filled the bill. The new cream is grey (which helps camouflage), lasts six to eight hours, will not rub off except with soap, does not interfere with finger action, protects against a heat flash of over 1,800° F. The formula is secret.

Sailors from Pearl Harbor and soldiers from Africa have spent long weeks in hospitals suffering from flash burns covering big areas of skin. A sailor stripped to the waist burns much worse than one wearing a skivvy shirt. So the Navy now tries to make men keep their shirts on in battle. The new cream covers the places clothing cannot—hands and face.

As yet the cream has not been tested in battle. But there have been many tests on volunteers at the Institute. During these tests, the doctors discovered that blonds, brunets and redheads differ in susceptibility to burns. They suggest that fighting men be encouraged to get suntanned as a burn protection. The new cream has also been demonstrated at the Army’s Armored Command Research Medical Laboratory with a view to its use by tank crews, who, like sailors, are liable to powder and fuel flash burns.