Report on dermatology : syphilis and other exanthemata / by Lunsford P. Yandell.

  • Yandell, Lunsford P. (Lunsford Pitts), 1805-1878.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on dermatology : syphilis and other exanthemata / by Lunsford P. Yandell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    proof that the system is already poisoned. Excision and cauterization irritate the sores, aggravate the existing inflammation, and thus enhance the chances of suppurating bubo. Venereal sores require exactly the same treatment as other sores, and heal most quickly under the application of anodynes, astringents, and protectives, accompanied by the internal administration of iron and bitter tonics. The occasional application of sulphate of copper often promotes their healing. Soap and water are irritants to syphi- litic sores as they are to all others, and should rarely be used in the management of any of the solutions of continuity. To cleanse the sores oil is the best material. Diet in Syphilis.—The diet should be the best at the patient’s com- mand, and meats and fats should be especially insisted on. Tobacco and alcohol must be imperatively prohibited in all the stages of the disease. They act both as local irritants and constitutional poisons. Secondary and tertiary sores require the same management as the primary lesions in all respects. Far too much attention is usually given to local treatment in syphilis, as in other eruptive diseases. Mercury is the only antidote to constitutional syphilis, and syphilis is always constitutional. For mercury we possess no substitute. Iron and bitter tonics, and all agents which promote nutrition, should be given in connection with the mercury, and large doses of quinia are often demanded; cod-liver oil, syrup, hypophosphites, syrup, ferri iod., and the extract of malt, are valuable remedies in the advanced stages. In the treatment of tertiary syphilis, iodide of potassium possesses great palliative, if not curative influence, and without it it is impossible in many cases to control the more advanced and serious manifestations of the disease. ' It should be given largely diluted, and from a drachm to one ounce or more in the twenty-four hours is often required. The best form of mercury for internal administration, in my judg- ment, is corrosive sublimate in solution. The best method of admin- istering mercury is the moist mercurial vapor bath. The baths remove the symptoms of the disease with greater certainty, with more rapidity, relapses are less frequent, and the risk of producing the ill effects of mercury under this treatment is nil. Mercurial inunction is the most satisfactory method in infantile syphilis, though the bichloride acts well in these cases. Whatever form of mercury or method of administration