Mother's Remedies Part 22

4. Carbolic Acid 20 drops to 1 dram Oil of Almonds 4 drams Oil of Lemon 1 dram Distilled Water, enough to make 2 ounces

Apply after washing.

The oily type is best treated with lotions and powders. The disease is very obstinate, but generally gets well.

WEN (Sebaceous Cyst. Steatoma).--A wen varies in size from a millet seed to an egg, and it is due to the distention of a sebaceous gland by its retained secretions. They occur most commonly on the scalp, face and back.

They cause no pain, grow slowly, and after they have grown to a certain size remain stationary for an indefinite time. Sometimes they become inflamed and ulcerate.

Treatment.--Make a free cut and take the ma.s.s out. Its covering (capsule) or sac must be removed at the same time, for if any of this membrane (capsule) is left it will fill up again. Equal parts of fine salt and the yolk of an egg beaten together and applied continuously will eat the skin open and the ma.s.s can then be taken out. This is quite painful and takes several days, while with the knife there is little pain if cocaine is injected and it will all be over in a few minutes.

[86 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]

RINGWORM (Tinea Trichophytina).--Ringworm is a contagious disease of the skin, produced by the presence of a vegetable parasite. The disease affects the hair follicles of the scalp and the beard, and also of the portions of the body that, seemingly at least, have no hair.

Varieties.--Ringworm affecting the body called Tinea Circinata. Ringworm affecting the scalp called Tinea Tonsurans. Ringworm affecting the beard, etc., Tinea Barbae (barbers' itch).

Ringworm of the Body.--This type of ringworm usually begins as one or several round, somewhat raised and very small, defined congested spots and these are covered with a few branny scales. The disease extends from the circ.u.mference and, while healing in the center, a.s.sumes a shape like a ring and these rings may become as large as a silver dollar and remain the same size for months or years, or they may go together (coalesce) to form circle (gyrate) patches. Vesicle and pimples frequently crop out at the circ.u.mference.

Mothers' Remedies for Ringworm.--1. Gunpowder and Vinegar for.--"Make a paste of gunpowder and vinegar and apply. Sometimes one application will be sufficient; if not, repeat."

2. Ringworm, Cigar Ashes for.--"Wet the sore and cover with cigar ashes.

Repeat frequently. This will cure if taken in time." This is a very simple and effective remedy. Cigar ashes are always easy to obtain and if applied to the ringworm at the very beginning, the nicotine in the tobacco will draw out the soreness and relieve the inflammation.

3. Ringworm, Kerosene for.--"Apply kerosene with the finger or a cloth several times a day."

4. Ringworm, Ontario Mother Cured Boy of.--"Wash head with vinegar and paint with iodine to kill germ. Cured a neighbor's boy."

5. Ringworm, Another from a Mother at Valdosta, Georgia.--"Burdock root and vinegar." Take the dock root and steep it the same as any ordinary herb tea, then add your vinegar, making the proportions about half and half. Apply this to the affected part.

6. Ringworm, Egg Skin Remedy for.--"Take the inner skin of an egg and wrap around it, and cover with a piece of cloth."

7. Ringworm, from a Mother at Owosso. Michigan.--"Take gunpowder and wet it and put it on the sores," This remedy has been tried a great many times and always gives relief when taken right at the beginning. So many people will wait, thinking the ringworm will disappear of its own accord, instead of giving some simple home remedy like the above a trial.

[SKIN DISEASES 87]

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Ringworm.--1. For infants and children simpler remedies should be used at first. Scrub each patch with tincture of green soap, or merely good soap and water may be employed. Then apply tincture of iodine to the patches, once or twice a day, enough to irritate the patches. Dilute acetic acid, or dilute carbolic acid will do the same work. A ten per cent solution of sodium hyposulphite is a good remedy also.

2. Corrosive sublimate, one to four grains to the ounce of water, is very good to put on the patches. For children the strength should be about one-half grain to the ounce.

3. Ammoniated mercury is also very good to put on. Sometimes a combination of remedies will do better, as follows:

Milk of Sulphur 2-1/2 drams Spirits of Green Soap 6 drams Tincture of Lavender 6 drams Glycerin 1/2 dram

4. Pure Iodine 2 ounces Oil of Tar 1 ounce

Mix with care gradually.

5. Creasote 20 drops Oil of Cadini 3 drams Precipitated Sulphur 3 drams Bicarbonate Potash 1 dram Lard 1 ounce

Mix, to be used in obstinate cases in adults.

Ringworm of the Scalp.--Cautions and Treatment.--Be careful that others do not catch it from you. Separate the child affected. Cleanse the diseased parts from time to time by shampooing with a strong soap. The hair over the whole scalp should be clipped short and the affected parts shaved, or if allowed, the hairs in the affected parts pulled out. The remedies are then applied if possible in the shape of ointments, which are thoroughly rubbed in. Vaselin and lanolin are better as a base for the medicine, as they penetrate deeper. Following remedies are the most valuable:

1. Carbolic acid, one to two drams to glycerin one ounce.

2. Oleate of mercury, strength ten to twenty per cent.

3. Sulphur Ointment, ten to twenty per cent strength.

4. Tincture of Iodine.

This variety lasts longer than the ringworms on the body, months sometimes are required to cure it.

BARBER'S ITCH (Ringworm of the Beard).--Mother's Remedies. 1. Standard Remedy for.--"Plain vaselin two ounces, venice turpentine one-half ounce, red precipitate one-half ounce. Apply locally. Great care should be taken not to expose affected parts to cold and draughts while ointment is in use, especially if affected surface is large." The above is a standard remedy and will be found very effective in all cases of barber's itch. The vaselin will a.s.sist in healing the sores and softening up the scabs.

[88 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]

2. Barber's Itch, Healing Ointment for.--"Plain vaselin four ounces, sulphur two ounces, sal-ammoniac powder two drams. Mix and apply daily after cleansing the parts thoroughly with castile soap and soda water.

This is also an almost infallible cure for common itch." The vaselin is very good and healing, while the sulphur has a soothing effect and is a good antiseptic.

3. Barber's Itch, Reliable Remedy for.--"Citrine ointment one dram, vaselin or cosmolin one ounce. Mix thoroughly. Wash the affected parts clean and apply this ointment on a soft rag three times a day." This is a standard remedy and one to be relied upon. It is very soothing and has great healing properties.

4. Barber's Itch, Sulphur and Lard for.--"Sulphur and lard mixed together and applied three or four times a day. Have found this to be the best of anything ever used for barber's itch." This remedy will be found very good if the case is not very severe. If the face is covered with sores, filled with pus and of long standing a stronger treatment should be used. See other Mothers' Remedies, also Doctors' Treatment.

5. Barber's Itch, Cuticura Ointment for.--"Apply cuticura ointment to the sores, and as it draws out the water press a clean cloth against the sore to absorb the water. This will generally draw the water out in three or four days."

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Barber's Itch.--Pulling out the hairs or close shaving every day. Keep the affected parts soaking with olive oil for two successive days. The evening of the third day the shampoo is employed, the skin is washed free from crusts and scales, shave cleanly. After shaving bathe the parts for ten minutes with borated water, as hot as can be borne; while this is being done, all pustules or points where there is a mucous fluid coming out to the surface are opened with a clean needle.

Sponge freely over the affected surface with a strong solution of hyposulphite of sodium for several minutes and not allow it to dry; this solution may contain one dram and perhaps more to the ounce. After a thorough and final washing with hot water, the tender skin is carefully dried and gently smeared with a sulphur ointment containing one to two drams of sulphur to the ounce of vaselin, often with the addition of from one-quarter to one-half grain of mercuric sulphide. In the morning wash the ointment off with soap and water, the sodium solution is reapplied and a borated or salicylated powder is thoroughly dusted and kept over the parts during the day and apply ointment at night. The shaving must be repeated at least the next day. As soon as there are no pustules (lumps), or they have diminished in size, the ointment at night is superseded by the use of the dusting powder. The washing with very hot water and with the solution hyposulphite is continued nightly, when the inflammation excited by the parasite is limited to the follicles that are invaded.

Continue the dusting powder after the ointment is discontinued.

[SKIN DISEASES 89]

WART (Verucca). Mothers' Remedies.--1. An Application for, also Good for Cuts and Lacerations.--"Make a lotion of ten drops tincture of marigold to two ounces of water and apply." This is also good for severe cuts and lacerations. It may be applied by cloths or bandages if the case requires.

2. Warts, Match and Turpentine Wash.--"Dissolve matches in turpentine and apply to wart three or four times," This preparation helps to eat them away and if kept on too long is apt to produce a sore; care should therefore be taken in using this remedy.

3. Warts, Muriate of Ammonia for.--"Take a piece of muriate of ammonia, moisten and rub on the wart night and morning; after a week's treatment the wart, if not extra large, will disappear."

4. Warts, Turpentine for.--"Rub frequently with turpentine for a few days and they will disappear. This is a very simple remedy, but a good one, and worth trying if you are afflicted with warts."

5. Warts, to Remove.--"The juice of the marigold frequently applied is effectual in removing them. Or wash them with tincture of myrrh."

6. Warts, Milkweed Removes.--"Let a drop of the common milkweed soak into the wart occasionally, the wart will loosen and fall out. This can be applied as often as convenient; here in Canada we do not have to go far to get a plant."

7. The following is a good application:

Salicylic Acid 1/2 dram Cannabis Indicia 5 grains Collodion 1 ounce