Volume 1
The library of medicine / arranged and edited by Alexander Tweedie.
- Date:
- 1840-1841
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The library of medicine / arranged and edited by Alexander Tweedie. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![nitric acid (about a drachm of the acid to an ounce or more of water), should be employed. The lotion may be applied with a feather, which is passed over the surface, and pure water poured immediately over it, in case the acid be too strong. Obstinate patches are often much improved by the Ung. Hydr. Nit. Should all these methods prove inefficient, the arsenical preparations (Pearson’s or Fowler’s solution) must be cautiously employed. In the treatment of impetigo, and especially of that of the scalp in children, it is worthy of consideration whether it may not be more useful to the con- stitution of the child to suspend curative measures for some time, especially when there is great discharge, and the appearance of the eruption seems to correspond with the disappearance of other symptoms. ACNE. Syn. — Varus; Gutta rosea or rosacea; Couperose; Bacchia rosacea; Dartre pus- tuleuse miliaire; Dartre pustuleuse disseminee; Dartre pustuleuse couperose; Copper-nose. Acne is a pustular affection of the skin, generally chronic, characterised by small isolated pustules supported on a deep red base, apparently seated in and around sebaceous follicles, and often succeeded by small circumscribed livid- red indolent tumours, that disappear slowly, leaving indelible though very minute cicatrices. This disease is very common in young people, whence it derives its name aurr} or olk/jlt], maturitas, vigour. It is generally met with between the ages of fifteen and forty, both sexes being equally liable to it. The parts usually affected are, the sides of the face, the forehead, shoulders, and upper part of the bosom and back; it never occurs on the limbs, but sometimes in severe cases a few pustules show themselves on the back of the arms. Willan and Bateman describe four varieties of this eruption — Acne simplex, punctata, indurata, and rosacea. To these Biett has added the acne sebacea. All these varieties are sometimes met with in the same individual. Acne simplex is ge- nerally seated on the forehead, or about the whiskers, and on the back and shoulders. The pustules appear successively one after the other in the form of small, red, hard, inflamed spots, which become slowly pustular, the base being surrounded by a red areola. They appear without any constitutional symp- toms, and usually without pain or local heat. Sometimes several come out on the forehead simultaneously. The formation of pus takes place about the eighth day, or sooner; it is thin, and usually mixed with a thick sebaceous matter. Thin scales generally form, which, on falling off, leave a dark red raised mark that slowly disappears. In some points the redness and induration remain, and form small tumours which resemble those of the acne indurata. When the pustules of acne simplex are intermixed with a considerable number of black circular points, which are the external orifices of the follicles filled with concrete sebaceous matter, and are often converted into pustules, the dis- ease has a peculiar appearance, and has been termed acne punctata. Acne sim- plex is sometimes of short duration, but it often disappears and recurs at short intervals. Acne indurata. When the simple form of the disease does not pass off, or when the inflammation is deeper and more general, the skin and even the sub- cutaneous membrane becomes thickened around the pustules, and forms hard, indolent tumours of a dark dusky colour. In this state the disease is termed acne indurata. The progress of the pustules is always slow, the matter seldom making its way to the surface in less than two or three weeks. This variety is sometimes very trifling in extent, being confined to a few pustules or indu- rations on the temples, sides of the face, or forehead ; but frequently it appears with symptoms of much greater severity. The face is studded with livid red indurated tumours ; pustules are crowded between these indurations and on other parts of the face; the skin is hypertrophied and unctuous, and all the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21929555_0001_0419.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
