In dry cupping the object is to relieve internal congestion by drawing the blood into the subcutaneous cellular tissue. The back and loins, where the skin is tolerably loose, are most suitable places for this proceeding.
Fig. 107.—Cupping glasses, lamp, scarificator, and spirit bottle.
The Operation.
Step 1. Light the spirit lamp, direct the patient to sit forwards, and lay bare the back ready for the glasses, which should be placed on the bed within reach of the operator’s right hand.
Step 2. Rarify the air in a glass by plunging the flame into it a few moments, and then quickly clap the mouth of the glass on the skin; leave it there while a second and third glass are heated and applied, when the first should be removed and its vacuum restored before it is replaced. In putting the glasses on again, their rims should not lie exactly in the rings marked on the skin by previous applications, or the bruises may inflame and slough afterwards at these parts. The application and removal of the glasses should be done as lightly as possible to prevent all unnecessary pain.
A few repetitions of this incomplete vacuum causes the skin to puff up readily into the glasses, and much blood is thereby attracted into the cellular tissue.
Bleeding or Bloody Cupping.—When it is desired to take blood from the body the skin is punctured or scarified by the scarificators, half a dozen incisions being made at a blow by as many lancets protruding from a box, when a spring it holds is touched; the glasses are then laid over these incisions, and the necessary amount of blood removed by their exhausting power.
Fig. 108.—Junod’s vacuum boot for attracting the blood to the lower extremities.