Jun 22, 2009 11:00 pm US/Eastern
Health: 'Tight Jean Syndrome'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
Skinny jeans are the hot fashion look. The super tight pants are in.
"They are a year round item. Light washes, dark washes, distressed. They are all in right now. And we sell a lot of them," said Meredith Albert, with Charlie's Jeans in Old City.
She says there are all sorts of styles to choose from.
But just like with fashionable shoes that cause foot pain and big bags that cause backaches, there's now something called the tight jean syndrome.
22-year-old Christina Crane is a victim.
"There's like electric shock feeling going down my leg. The numbness just got worse," said Christina.
Neurologist Dr. Betty Mintz says constant pressure from tight pants causes meralgia paresthetica. It happens when a major nerve in the upper thigh is compressed.
"There are people who come in and say it is absolutely the most horrible pain imaginable," said Dr. Mintz.
Firefighters, construction workers and police officers more typically suffer from "tingling thigh syndrome" because they wear heavy, low slung belts, and pregnant or obese women because of leg pressure. But more young women are now developing symptoms.
"The jeans are always resting on my hip and I know that's where the initial pain begins is from the pelvis, that nerve there," said Christina.
"Certainly, the tight jeans could predispose more skinny, young women to developing this," said Dr. Mintz.
Christina has since tossed her skinny jeans, but most fashionistas say that won't be the trend.
"I still don't think women are going to give up their jeans. Beauty is pain," said Lindsay Taylor Huggins, the Self Magazine senior fashion market editor.
Doctors say the first line of treatment for the syndrome is to obviously stop wearing super tight pants, but sometimes there can be nerve damage, requiring pain and neurological medications.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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