Essentials of Diseases of the Skin / Including the Syphilodermata Arranged in the Form of Questions and Answers Prepared Especially for Students of Medicine

by Henry Weightman Stelwagon

The extent and severity of the disease and the general condition of the patient are always to be considered before an opinion is expressed.

Pemphigus neonatorum usually ends fatally.

Give the treatment of pemphigus.

Both constitutional and local measures are demanded. Good nutritious food and hygienic regulations are essential. Arsenic and quinia are the most valuable remedies. The former, in occasional instances, seems to have a specific influence, and should always be tried, beginning with small doses and increasing gradually to the point of tolerance and continued for several weeks or longer. The remedy should not be set aside as long as there are signs of improvement, unless the supervention of stomachic, intestinal or other disturbance demand its discontinuance. Other tonics, such as iron, strychnia and cod-liver oil, are also at times of service. The blebs should be opened and the parts anointed or covered with a mild ointment. In more general cases bran, starch and gelatin baths, and in severe cases the continuous bath, if practicable, are to be used.

CLASS III.—HEMORRHAGES.

Purpura.

Define purpura.

Purpura is a hemorrhagic affection characterized by the appearance of variously-sized, usually non-elevated, smooth, reddish or purplish spots or patches, not disappearing under pressure.

Name the several varieties met with.

Three—purpura simplex, purpura rheumatica and purpura hæmorrhagica; denoting, respectively, the mild, moderate and severe grade of the disease. The division is, to a great extent, an arbitrary one.