Treatment

When a correct diagnosis is made, the treatment is easy. The natural course of the disease is a short and definite one. The secretion is an active agent, by means of inocu­lation self-practiced by the patient in scratching, in transmitting the disease from one part to another. Therefore it is of the first importance to destroy the activity of the pus, and to alter the behavior of the surface that secretes it A very active agent in procuring this result is an ointment containing five grains of the ammonio-chloride of mercury, and apply it to the surface beneath the scabs, which must be removed by poulticing or fomentation with warm water. A sulphur ointment is also beneficial. The patient must be well-nourished, and strict hygienic treatment adopted. Cleanliness is all-important.
The old-school rely principally upon the external applications.

The indications for the internal remedies are:
Antimon. crud. - This is the principal internal remedy. Eruption forming thick, heavy yellow crusts, with burning; eruption about face; worse from bathing the parts; better in open air; chronic cases.

Arsen. alb. - Black pustules, filled with black blood and fetid pus; painful sensation on scalp and face, as from cutaneous ulceration; worse from cold and touch; better from warmth.

Baryta carb. - Especially old people; thick crusts behind the ears; fat dumpy children, with swollen lymphatics; sore throat, with swelling of tonsils after the least cold; worse at night and when thinking of it; better in open air.

Calcarea carb. - During dentition; dry crusts; sweat of forehead, particularly in the evening; sensitiveness of the roots of the hair.

Cicuta vir. - Impetigo sparsa; eruption on chin and lower part of face, forming thick yellow crusts; honey­comb-like crusts, which fall off and leave a bright-red smooth surface; painful eruption on scalp.

Clematis. - Psoric constitution; pimples on forehead, root and sides of nose; pustules about lips, tender to touch; large pustules about loins; eruption changes character during the changes of the moon; worse in bed, washing, and towards morning; feels exhausted on waking.

Conium. - Seropurulent eruption in aged people, old hypochondriar; maids; vertigo when turning over in bed, looking up; old, weak, and feeble men; scrofulosis, with engorgement of lymphatics; eruption around mons veneris.

Croton tigl. - Pustular eruption upon an inflamed base, with itching and stinging pain upon septum nasi, plugging the nostril; eruption on abdomen; sore nipples of nursing women.

Euphorbium is indicated when there is an irritable skin, with swelling of the face and pea-sized yellow vesicles.

Graphites. - Scabby eruption, with excessive oozing; eruption around mouth and nose or the whiskers; hair falls out; corrosive blisters about extremities, toes, and fingers; dry skin; very sensitive to cold; cold hands and feet, with scanty menses; rhagades.


Hepar. - Eruption after mercurialism; sensitive to touch; tendency to ulceration; humid scabs and pustules upon the head, oozing a fetid substance; swollen cervical glands; cracks behind ears; hands cracked and dry.

Iris vers. - Impetigo capitis, with gastric complaints, nausea, and vomiting.

Kali bichrom. - Dry eruption; pustules disappear without bursting. Stands next to Antim. cr. as a remedy.

Kreosotum. - Painless pustular eruption all over body, especially on chin and cheeks; sticking pain, especially on points; sad and weeping; worse in open air.


Lycopodium. - After abuse of mercury; itching and suppurating eruption on head and face; full of deep cracks; abundant and fetid discharge; fetid and moist scabs behind ears; humid tinea capitis.

Mercurius. - Swelling and suppuration of glands; gastric derangement; moist scabs, with excoriation of the scalp and destruction of the hair; yellowish scabs on face, with fetid discharge; yellowish scabs, especially around mouth.

Mezereum. - Deep inflammatory redness of face; eruption fat and moist; ichor from scratched places excoriates other parts.

Nitric acid. - Eruption on head, pricking on being touched; pustular eruption on face, with large red margin and heavy scabs; mercuriosyphilis.

Rhus tox. - Small pustules on black base; greenish pus, with violent itching at night; humid eruption, with thick scabs on face and head, destroying the hair, with fetid smell; eruption on nose, extending to face.

Silicea. - Eruption resembling varicella; violent itching of scalp; moist scald head; growing pains; better warmth, worse from cold.

Sulphur. - Dry, thick, yellow scabs on scalp, with profuse discharge; itching relieved by scratching; purulent eruption on elbows.

Tartar emet. - The remedy when the disease is exceedingly pustular.

Thuja. - Eruption all over the body; itching and shooting, especially at night; pustular eruption about the knee; better from gentle rubbing.

Viola tricolor. - Pustules and scabs upon face, with burning and itching and discharging fetid pus; sensation as of tension of the integument of face; urine smells like cul's urine; worse at night. Recent cases.