Cocoa butter is a great moisturizing agent that can be used daily, even for sensitive skin. Apply cocoa butter to the darkened portions of your neck twice every day until you start to see results.  Continue using cocoa butter regularly to prevent your neck from darkening again. Cocoa butter is a good solution for people with dry hair and skin, but people with oily skin may experience breakouts or oily hair. There are many professional products that are intended to help lighten skin permanently. You should be able to purchase these from beauty supply stores, from an online vendor, or on the recommendation of your doctor.  Consider Melarase AM or PM products for skin lightening. Use them twice daily, or as directed. Darkening patches on the neck can be a symptom of eczema. If you have eczema, make sure you treat it according to your doctor’s orders. This usually involves applying topical creams regularly, or whenever you have a breakout. If your eczema symptoms worsen, consult your doctor for further treatment options. A dark neck is often a side effect of diabetes and obesity. If you want to prevent getting a dark neck, or your dark neck symptoms increasing over time, consider managing your weight with diet and exercise. A healthier lifestyle can also help in diabetes treatment. If you have diabetes, be sure to discuss it with your doctor and get treatment immediately. Treating your diabetes can help minimize your neck discoloration.

Summary: Moisturize with cocoa butter. Try a skin lightening product. Treat eczema. Prevent or treat diabetes and obesity.


Your optometrist may offer you various options depending on your particular eyes and needs. Understand what you want from your contacts.  Length of use: Some contacts are intended to be worn just for one day, then thrown out. Others are designed to be reused for an entire year. In between, there are contacts which are worn monthly and bi-weekly. Softer contacts, which are worn for shorter periods of time, are generally more comfortable and healthier for your eyes, but more expensive. Harder contacts may be convenient in the sense that they need not be removed so often — but they are also more rigid, and they may be more difficult to adjust to than the softer varieties. Daily wear contacts must be removed every night before you go to bed. Extended wear contacts can be worn when you sleep. Several extended wear lenses are FDA-approved for seven days of continuous use, and certain brands of silicone hydrogel AW lenses are approved for 30 days of continuous use. Most eye doctors will give you a few options, and most will give you the chance to test out a particular brand or prescription before you commit to a large investment.  Try different brands. Some brands of contacts are thinner and more porous than others and have smoother edges, making for better comfort; however, they are typically more expensive. A good eye doctor will have you test-drive a brand for a week to make sure they are comfortable. If you're unsure about what you want, ask your optometrist for a trial package that includes just one or two pairs of contacts. Your optometrist may also allow you to try out several contacts in their office, once it's clear that you're committed to choosing between one type or another. Some opticians refuse to prescribe contacts until patients reach a certain age — say, 13 — and some advise only part-time wear until you're of age.  The concern is whether or not the patient is old enough and responsible enough to care for their contact lenses properly, as improper care can have an impact on eye health. A parent or guardian can help determine if a patient is mature enough to properly care for lenses.  If your optometrist or your legal guardians decide that you aren't yet old enough to wear contact lenses, get a pair of glasses. You can always start wearing contacts a few years down the line, but you may find that you like wearing glasses just fine. You can buy colored lenses with or without a prescription; however, it is not recommended to get colored or novelty contacts over-the-counter or without a prescription (this is actually illegal). Contacts are considered medical devices and a poor fit could cause serious damage to your eyes.  You can choose a common eye color that's different from your own — say, blue, brown, hazel, green — or you can choose more outlandish colors: red, purple, white, tie-dye, spirals, and cat-eyes. If you're getting a prescription for these, be sure to choose something that you're willing to wear every day. Contacts make for expensive novelty products.

Summary: Choose the right contact lenses. Don't be afraid to experiment. If you're younger than 18, ask about your optician's policy on minors wearing contacts. Consider buying colored contact lenses to change your eye color.


If you have a severe sore throat without a cough and white exudate on your tonsils, you should definitely book an appointment to see your doctor as soon as possible. A sore throat that presents in this way is likely to be caused by Group A Strep. Your doctor will perform diagnostic tests to confirm it and will offer you treatment as needed. If your doctor agrees that your sore throat is worrisome for Group A Strep, she will perform a throat swab right then and there in the office. It is a procedure that does not take more than a few minutes. A sample is taken from the back of your throat and sent into the lab to test for the presence of streptococcal bacteria. If the test comes back positive, you will need to proceed with antibiotic treatment. Your doctor will perform a physical exam to evaluate the rash and the potential signs of scarlet fever in more detail. If enough signs and symptoms are present, he will offer you immediate antibiotic treatment.

Summary: See your physician. Obtain a throat swab. See your doctor immediately if you have developed the characteristic rash of scarlet fever.


This is a good trick to perform in front of a crowd, since you'll need three volunteers to do it correctly. Be sure to get exactly three; the trick won't resonate as well with two, and it simply won't work with four. It's best to choose people you don't know well, so the audience won't think you planned the trick together before the show. This part of the trick is very important. Take a sheet of paper and tear it into thirds. Give the first third, which will have one straight side and one jagged side, to the first person. Give the second piece, which will have two jagged sides, to the second person. Give the third piece, which will also have one straight side and one jagged side, to the third person.  This trick can't be conducted properly unless you rip one piece of paper into thirds, so make sure you prepare for it by having a large sheet of paper on hand. Pay attention to the person who has the piece that is ripped on both sides. This piece of paper is the key to the trick. The first person should write down the name of a person who is alive. The second person (with the double-ripped paper) should write down the name of a person who is dead. The third person should write down the name of a person who is alive. Make a show of leaving the room or turning your back while the volunteers write the names on their slips of paper. Without your touching them, the volunteers should place their slips of paper in a hat or box. Tell the volunteers to concentrate hard on the name they wrote down. Hold the hat or box above your head, or have someone else hold it, so it's clear that you can't see inside. Tell the audience that you already know what the name of the dead person is, and look knowingly at the volunteer who wrote it down, as though you're reading his or her mind. Finally, put your hand in the hat and feel around for the slip of paper that has two rough edges. Draw it out with a flourish and read the name to everyone's amazement.
Summary: Ask for three volunteers. Give each volunteer a slip of paper. Tell each person to write down a name. Announce that you will draw the name of the dead person. Draw the name.