What is the constitutional treatment?
The general health must be cared for; good, nutritious food, fresh air and out-door exercise, together with, in many cases, the administration of such remedies as cod-liver oil, potassium iodide, iron and quinine, are of therapeutic importance. Tuberculin may be tried in severe and obstinate cases, but its use is not without danger.
State the object of local treatment.
The destruction or removal of the diseased tissue.
May milder methods of treatment sometimes prove beneficial and even curative?
Exceptionally, mercurial plaster, corrosive-sublimate lotion and ointment (gr. j to ℥ j), a plaster containing five to fifteen per cent. of salicylic acid and creasote, repeated paintings with carbolic acid, and the constant application of lead plaster containing twenty per cent. of ichthyol, are valuable.
Fig. 47.
Double Curette.
Of the milder methods, those most in vogue to-day are the Finsen light and x-ray. Either proves extremely valuable in some cases, but the Finsen method is the favorite method.