Fashion damages your health !

Not to send you all scrambling to Web MD to find out if you've got meralgia paresthetica or anything, but we thought this piece from the Wall Street Journal-rounding up some health risks associated with certain clothes and accessories-was pretty interesting. Are you a potential fashion victim? Find out!

1. Skinny jeans : Wearing practically-painted-on pants can interfere with digestion, according to an internist (who found the problem so common he dubbed it "tight pants syndrome"), and they've also been responsible for "lower back pain, yeast infections in women and a rare condition called lipoatrophia semicircularis, in which horizontal lesions appear around the thighs." Good thing flares are back!

2. Spanx: Wearing your beloved shapewear for too long can cause nerve compression and reduced oxygen intake. Consider yourselves warned.

3. Tight ties and shirts: A Cornell study says a whopping 67% of men need to loosen up at the office-wearing shirts with too-small neck sizes and too-tight ties can reduce circulation to the brain and decrease range of motion in the neck and increase muscle tension in the back and shoulders. And since ties are rarely cleaned, they transmit infections easily.

4. High heels: Of course, we know all about this one (though I can't say it's ever gotten in my way of wearing 'em)...heels higher than two inches "have been linked to bunions, hammer toes, stress fractures and ankle sprains."

5. Flip flops: "Flip-flops are even worse, according to the American Podiatric Medical Association. Researchers at Auburn University videotaped 39 volunteers and noticed they had to clench their toes to keep them on, leading to foot fatigue, sore calf muscles and an altered gait, which could cause long-term ankle and hip problems."

6. Heavy handbags: Wearing an oversize tote on the same shoulder can throw off your back alignment. According to the Journal, "The American Chiropractic Association recommends that women carry no more than 10% of their body weight in a bag."

7. Accessories containing nickel: "Even minute amounts of nickel in rings, earrings, belt buckles, watch backs and jeans rivets can cause an itchy red rash on people who have nickel allergy, which can begin suddenly even in adulthood."


/Yahoo/