Remarks on the treatment of piles and allied affections, including pruritus ani / by T. Lauder Brunton.

  • Brunton, Thomas Lauder, Sir, 1844-1916.
Date:
[1892]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the treatment of piles and allied affections, including pruritus ani / by T. Lauder Brunton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    fpledget soon becomes felted together into a regular pad, fitting c3ompletely to the anus, and being retained by the few fibres caught bby the sphincter it will remain there for twenty hours, while a f similar pad of cotton wool might not remain as many minutes. Hhis wool pad not only keeps the hamamelis in constant contact »with the piles, but also affords a certain amount of mechanical ^support. In patients suffering from piles we frequently notice an aUmost involuntary tendency to sit on the corner of a table or on tbhe arm of a chair, or to put the hand behind and press upon the Rinus from time to time; but the woollen pad, by affording a cconstant support, tends to lessen the necessity for pressure in any [of these ways. Where the piles are chiefly internal the hamamelis may be applied in the dose of half-a-drachm to a drachm, either [ililuted with water, or, as is sometimes preferable, undiluted, by in- (ecting it within the anus by means of a glycerine syiinge. The uuccess of this treatment in stopping haemorrhage from piles is roeally extraordinary; within a week I have stopped the haemorrhage from piles which were bleeding so profusely that a colleague thought that an operation would be necessary. But not only does the uamamelis stop haemorrhage, it lessens the uncomfortable weight and aching pain which so frequently accompany piles, especially when they do not bleed; and it will even greatly lessen or remove ,lhe pain which occurs in piles when they become inflamed. I have tried various preparations of hamamelis, but I have not found slither the tincture or the local extract, both of which are to be ijound among the recent additions to the Pharmacojpceia, nearly so atisfactory as some of the proprietary preparations. The patient requires to be carefully instructed in the mode of using it, otherwise disappointment may ensue. Some time ago a ady who was passing through London on her way to the Continent was seized with a sharp attack of piles. I was asked to see her at an hotel, but, not being able to go for a couple of hours, I hastily vvrote down a prescription for hamamelis and gave it to the maid, with, as I thought, definite instructions how to apply it. On going 'C the lady two hours afterwards, I found that she had used the whole hottle, but with no relief whatever; nor was this to be wondered at, for the piles were internal, and the hamamelis had rnly been used externally. Lanolin takes up a considerable fc, uantity of hamamelis, and a combination of the two forms a most Satisfactory ointment. In obstinate cases of piles, great relief is afforded by the anal
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