6. Carbuncle, Snap Bean Poultice for.—"Apply snap bean leaves beat up fine. Bruise the leaves until they are real fine, then apply as a poultice."
PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Carbuncles.—Keep up the strength by a nourishing diet and in some cases, stimulants.
[SKIN DISEASES 61]
Local.—Cut it open thoroughly by a cross (crucial) cut, like this (x). The cut must reach through the mass to sound tissue beneath and beyond it. Then scrape out all the dead tissue. Dress with iodoform or sterile gauze. An antiseptic like listerine, glyco-thymoline, etc., can be used to wet the gauze, put on as a dressing afterwards and then more dry gauze above, strapped with adhesive plaster. Water and instruments must be boiled, hands must be absolutely clean. Everything around it must be clean. Sometimes it is necessary to go slowly and take out at each dressing only what can be easily removed, It is not always possible to get the whole mass away at once. Opening the carbuncle and giving free drainage afford great relief from the fever and often general symptoms. When the part feels as if it needed redressing, it should be done, for it then gives much relief. The dressings frequently become hard and do not absorb all of the material ready to be discharged. It is usually proper and prudent to dress a carbuncle two or three times a day. There is no danger if the one who dresses it is clean with the instruments, hands and gauze or cotton.
LIVER SPOTS, Moth Patch, Chloasma, etc.—This is a discoloration of the skin of a yellowish to a blackish tint of varying size and shape.
Causes.—It may be due to external agencies, such as rubbing, scratching, heat (tanning and sunburn) blistering; or due to diseases such as tuberculosis, cancer, malaria, Addison's disease, disease of the womb, pregnancy.
PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Liver Spots.—Remove all causes if possible.
Local.—This must be carefully used, find out first how sensitive the skin is. Dr. Bulkley recommends this lotion:
Corrosive Sublimate 5 grains
Dilute Acetic Acid 2 drams
Borax 40 grains
Rose water enough for 4 ounces
Shake bottle, mix and apply to the part night and morning. If the skin becomes too scaly, a mild soothing ointment should be substituted for the above. White suggests the following: