ECZEMA TREATMENT
The diet should be most carefully looked into. The nursing mother will earnestly look into every article of food she herself is eating, and carefully avoid all foods that produce fermentation or decomposition. The mother's urine should be examined and its acidity noted; if it is above normal she should take some alkalines such as ordinary baking soda or calcined magnesia. If it is a bottle-fed baby, any form of flour should be removed from the food and the quantity of the milk reduced. All this, of course, is done under the direction of the physician. Repeated doses of castor oil may be given.
The name of the medicinal agents that have been used in the treatment of eczema, is legion. Perhaps one of the most widely used is the early varnishing of the affected skin with ichthyol (one part ichthyol, one part distilled water), which is swabbed on after the skin has been cleansed with olive oil. Allow this to almost dry, and then sprinkle on talcum powder which smooths over the dry varnish of ichthyol. This is worn every night and during the day, in bad cases, even when the eczema is on the face. It is renewed each day, and is preceded by the olive-oil bath. No water or soap is ever used in eczema. Fortunately, the Eskimo has taught us that the skin really can be cleansed with oil as well as with water. In the [appendix] will be found two prescriptions, number one and number two, that have proved very beneficial in some of the most severe forms of eczema.