On diseases of the mucous membrane of the throat, and their treatment by topical medication / by William R. Wagstaff.

Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On diseases of the mucous membrane of the throat, and their treatment by topical medication / by William R. Wagstaff. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    by its contact with the epiglottis and the pha- rynx. Treatment.—The application of astringents to the diseased organ, should first be thoroughly tried, and if no beneficial effect is seen to fol- low this measure, the uvula should be some- what shortened. I am satisfied that the complete truncating of the organ, is an operation which should never be performed, when no other indication demands it, than chronic elongation. For the irritation and inconvenience arising from this condition of the uvula, are produced only by its contact with the pharynx and epiglottis; and this mechanical irritant will be completely re- moved, by the excision of so much of the dis- eased organ, as will reduce its length to that of the healthy uvula. Nor do I know what argu- ment can be used to justify the operation of truncating the uvula, when no other disease is present than chronic elongation. As the mu- ciperous glands, which are very frequently the cause of a continual irritation in the mucous membrane of the uvula, are situated, mainly at its extremity, the removal of a portion of it