Diseases of the skin / by J. Ferguson Smith.

  • Smith, J. Ferguson.
Date:
[between 1900 and 1920]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Diseases of the skin / by J. Ferguson Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    protein is placed. On one a drop of the alkali alone is placed, to act as a control. A positive reaction is indicated by the appearance at the site of the test of a wheal, surrounded by a red halo, the control remaining free from anything but a small wheal without halo. Discuss the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Urticaria. The diagnosis of an acute attack presents no difficulty. The wheal and dermographism, with the intense itching, are quite characteristic. In chronic cases no active lesions may be present at the time of consultation, and the diagnosis must be made from the history, and the absence of signs of other itching affections, such as scabies or prurigo. The prognosis is good as regards each attack, but in relapsing cases depends upon the discovery and removal of the cause. Give the Treatment of Urticaria. In an acute attack a saline purge should be given at the outset, with gastric sedatives, such as Bismuth, if necessary. Locally, calamine lotion, or a dusting-powder of equal parts of talc and starch, with 2 per cent, camphor. Ointments most often irritate. In chronic cases close search should be made for a cause, and any found removed. Focal sepsis may be found in teeth, tonsils, nasal sinuses, or elsewhere. The digestive tract may need attention. Where attacks are of daily, or almost daily occurrence, focal sepsis is a likely cause, and where they are at longer and irregular intervals, a food- protein may be responsible. The keeping of a meticulously accurate and complete record of everything ingested may yield a clue, and any food suspected should be removed from the diet, and if then the attacks cease, the experiment should be made of giving the food again. The cutaneous tests with food-proteins are on the whole disappointing, but are worth a trial in difficult cases. Autohsemotherapy often helps greatly, and quinine internally sometimes succeeds. Calcium is most often useless. Give an Account of Papular Urticaria. This disease, known also as lichen urticatus, is simply chronic urticaria occurring mostly in young children. The lesions B