Urticaria. (Hives, or Nettle-Rash.) This word is derived from urtica, signifying a nettle; it is a transient affection of the skin, indicated by a fierce, burning, itching sensation and a development of pustules, or white blotches of various forms. A representation of this eruption is given in Colored Plate III, Fig. 17. It is appropriately named nettle-rash, from its resemblance to the irritation caused by the sting of a nettle. There is the same sharp, tingling sensation and a similar white wheal or blotch, caused by the muscular spasm of the corium, a layer of the skin.
Urticaria may be either acute or chronic. Acute urticaria is always preceded by febrile symptoms and the attack is indicated by a sudden congestion of the skin, followed by a slight swelling or elevation of the affected part. When the congestion subsides, the skin has a bruised appearance. In chronic urticaria, the febrile symptoms are absent.
Causes. The exciting causes of urticaria are gastric disorder, irritation of the mucous membrane, or a sudden nervous shock. The predisposing causes are conceded to be assimilative and nervous debility. Hence, it frequently accompanies purpura or land scurvy and rheumatism. The skin in some persons is so susceptible to irritation that urticaria can be kindled at any moment by excitement, as an animated conversation, or by the simple pressure of the hand.
Treatment. The proper treatment for simple erythema consists in applying to the affected parts a little lime-water, or sweet-oil, or glycerine, with the use of warm baths and mild cathartics. This is generally sufficient to effect a cure, if followed up with the persistent use of Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery taken three times a day.
In erysipelas a hot bath, with warm, sweating teas, or, better still. Dr. Pierce's Compound Extract of Smart-weed may be given to favor sweating. The whole person should be frequently bathed with warm water rendered alkaline by the addition of saleratus or soda. The whole should be moved by a full dose of the "Pleasant Pellets." Fluid extract of veratrum viride, in doses of a drop or two every hour will best control the fever. The specific treatment, that which antidotes the poison in the blood, consists in administering fifteen-drop doses of the tincture of the muriate of iron in one teaspoonful of the "Golden Medical Discovery," every three hours. As a local application, the inflamed surface may be covered with cloths wet in the mucilage of slippery elm. A preparation of equal parts of sweet oil and spirits of turpentine, mixed and painted over the surface, is an application of great efficacy.
For urticaria, the "Pleasant Pellets" should be administered in sufficient doses to move the bowels, the skin bathed with warm water rendered alkaline by the addition of common baking soda or saleratus, and, if there be any febrile symptoms, a little tincture of aconite or veratrum may be administered in one drop doses once each hour. In the chronic form of the disease, the diet should be light, unstimulating, and easily digested, the skin kept clean by frequent bathing, and fresh air and outdoor exercises freely taken. The somewhat protracted use of Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery will result in the greatest benefit in this form of disease.
BULLOUS AFFECTIONS.
The distinguishing feature of this group of cutaneous affections is the formation of bullæ, or blebs, which are defined as "eminences of the cuticle, containing a fluid."
Herpes is an inflammation of the skin in which the eruption appears in patches of a circular form. On the second day, minute, transparent vesicles appear and gradually develop, becoming opalescent. On the succeeding days, they shrink and produce reddish brown scabs, which soon become hard and fall off, leaving deep, purplish pits. In adults, these vesicles sometimes terminate in painful ulcers, caused by an irritation of the eruption. By some practitioners, herpes is regarded as a purely nervous disorder, from the fact that it is frequently accompanied by severe neuralgic pains. These pains are not constant, but occasional, and do not appear at any definite stage of the disease. Sometimes they precede and accompany the eruption. Other instances are recorded in which they remained many years after the disease had disappeared. The local and constant pain of herpes is a severe burning, prickling, itching sensation, which remains after the scabs fall.
The three general forms of this disease are herpes zoster, phlyctoenodes and circinatus.