The exact measurement of the electric current, and other practical points in the destruction of hair by electrolysis : with especial reference to the use of the absolute galvanometer / by Morton Prince.

  • Morton Prince
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The exact measurement of the electric current, and other practical points in the destruction of hair by electrolysis : with especial reference to the use of the absolute galvanometer / by Morton Prince. 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.

    14/18 (page 10)
    time must it be allowed to pass, and the greater the pain. My plan is always to watch the needle of the galva- nometer, and if itswings towards two milliamperes, to shorten the duration, and if it goes beyond two milli- amperes to immediately break the current. I do not mean to say that it is impossible to use stronger cur- ]-ents without causing bad after-elfects, but it is very difficult to do so, and the current must be broken almost immediately after being made. With a current of one milliampere, three seconds is amply long enough for the current to how. This I have repeatedly determined with watch in hand. If the hair be not destroyed in that time, the reason therefor will almost always be found fo be that the needle has not been accurately introduced within the hair follicle so as to hit the bulb. Of course the stroimer the current and the longer it be allowed to act the easier it is for the operator to successfully work, and hence there is alwa}'s an in- ducement to use strong currents. If a current of one milliampere acting for three seconds will decompose the tissue within a radius of, say, 1-50 inch, for example, a current of three milliamperes will decompose all the tissue within 3-50 inch, or thereabouts ; aud therefore with the latter current much less care need be em- ployed in introducing the needle, as it has only to be placed somewhere near the hair, and all the neigh- boring tissue must succumb, hair and all, hence cica- trices. For this reason the needle should be accurately in- serted into the follicle and papilla. If it is placed simply in the neighborhood of the latter, all the in- tervening tissue must necessarily be exjiosed to the electrolytic action. Greater destructign of tissue than necessary will then be occasioned, and pustules and scars must result.