A new skin condition, believed to be caused by excessive use of games consoles, has been identified by skin specialists in Switzerland, according to the BBC.
The condition, dubbed "PlayStation palmar hidradenitis", was discovered when a 12-year old girl went to hospital with red, sore lumps on her hands. Doctors at Geneva University Hospital concluded that she had "idiopathic eccrine hidradenitis" - a condition that is usually found on the palms of hands and the soles of feet of children who take part in heavy exercise such as jogging, and is believed to be caused by intense sweating. However, for the condition to affect only the hands is very unusual.
"Idiopathic" conditions are conditions that have no known cause, but the parents recalled that their daughter had started playing her PlayStation games console for several hours a day, prior to the sores appearance. Indeed, after a 10 day abstinence from gaming, the girls hands made a full recovery.
Writing in the British Journal of Dermatology, the authors, led by Behrooz Kasraee, wrote "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"."
In response to the case, a spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe said, "We firmly believe that video gaming is a legitimate entertainment pastime like watching movies, listening to music, or reading books. 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."
"We do not wish to belittle this research and will study the findings with interest. This is the first time we have ever heard of a complaint of this nature," he said.