A handbook of local therapeutics / edited by Harrison Allen.

Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A handbook of local therapeutics / edited by Harrison Allen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    58/554 (page 46)
    LOCAL THERAPEUTICS. notice as a slow destructive agent in the treatment of Epithelioma Lupus and Tuberculous Ulcerations. According to his statement we have m lactic acid, when applied locally, a slow caustic action, destroy- ing only the diseased part and not affecting the healthy tissue, and result- ing in a short time in the complete removal of all affected tissue. A great deal of evidence is brought to bear that these statements are not correct, and that lactic acid is equally destructive to healthy and diseased tissue. Cheron {Gaz. de Gynecol., February i, 1888) recommends it in the treatment of Vaginal Ulceration that has resisted other means of treatment. It has been used in Tuberculous Ulceration of the Tongue. Lactic acid, 80 parts; water, 20 parts, brushed daily over the ulcerated surface with a camel's hair brush. {Rev. de Thirap, April i, 1889.) ' Diseases of the Skin.—Lactic acid in a pure concentrated form has been used successfully in the treatment of Tylosis. The fluid is well rubbed in by the aid of a brush of cotton or lint tied to a short stick. The effect of the application is to soften the overgrown epidermic masses, which easily peel off after a few days' treatment. The hypertrophy returns, but by persistence a cure eventually results, according to Knocke. {^Jour. Cut. and Ven. Bis., v, 1887, p. 122.) Lactic acid has also been used in Verruca, Chloasma and Lentigo. In the case of the two latter the acid should be diluted with three parts of water. In Lupus Vulgaris lactic acid, applied pure or made into a paste with salicylic acid, has been employed with success. A piece of lint wet with the lactic acid, or a thin layer of the paste, is applied to the diseased part and then covered with gutta percha, the surrounding healthy tissue having been protected by ointments or gutta percha solution. After 24 hours the dressing is removed, the resulting ulcer dressed with iodoform gauze, and this dressing remains for 48 hours. Lactic acid is then once more applied and the procedure repeated. Mosetig-Moorhof ( C*^/./. Chir., i88s, p. igj) appears to have been the first to find that concentrated lactic acid brought in contact with fungous granulations changed these into a soft blackish mass. Applied to Lupus, Epithelioma and Flat Papilloma, the entire tissue, stroma and all, became changed to a blackish mass. The acid is applied as above, pure or made into a paste with salicylic acid. The application is to be made at intervals of 12 hours. Diseases of the Ear, Throat, and Nose.—To produce the caustic effect of lactic acid in the nose, mouth, and throat the agent must be used pure. Solutions of varying strengths are demanded in other clinical conditions. Victor Lange {Archives of Otology, vol. 17, No. i) applies