Spontaneous recovery from small lesions may occur in two or three months.
Treatment. The patients should be isolated, and any brushes, combs, etc., with which they have been in contact must be disinfected.
The diseased areas should then be dressed with some fatty substance, to soften the crusts and enable them to be removed without injury.
Dressings are useless unless these crusts have been removed, for the spores are always in the deepest recesses and in the follicles, so that the drugs employed never come in contact with them.
Once the skin is cleansed, numerous chemical substances may be utilised, the solutions being applied for several days in succession. Amongst them may be mentioned tincture of iodine, oil of cade, 10 per cent. solution of sulphate of iron, and solution of perchloride of iron. Such drugs, however, must not be used for a long time, as they all attack the skin to some extent.
When the patches are small and well defined the following mixture proves very efficacious:—
| Crystallised carbolic acid | } | Equal parts. |
| Tincture of iodine | } | |
| Chloral hydrate | } |
Two or three applications generally prove successful.
Despite the natural activity of the spores, which are capable of germination after three months’ desiccation, some medicines are useful, although it is necessary, in order to judge of their effects, to wait for the renewal of the skin, hair follicles, and hair.
Where the disease is generalised this form of treatment is scarcely practicable, or at least it becomes more difficult.