Treatment.—The tumours are emptied by squeezing, after which the walls shrink so as to become flat, or they may be opened—of course only by a surgeon.
Excessive Secretion of the Sweat Glands, producing excess of perspiration, may occur over the whole body, as in exhausting diseases, and in weakened conditions of body after some illness, or it may be limited to parts—the arm pit, hands, or feet. Parts thus affected often become very tender and painful, and a local eczema (p. 425) may be produced. In the case of the feet, the smell is very objectionable, and the term stinking foot-sweat has been applied.
Treatment.—The parts should be frequently washed with yellow soap and water. Into the part should be rubbed, several times a day, some of a solution made by dissolving 60 grains of tannic acid in 6 ounces of spirit. The skin should not be wiped after the application. Into the stockings of persons with sweaty feet some powdery material should be dusted--starch, lycopodium, or even common flour.
Sudamina (Miliaria) are small round blis ters of the size of millet seeds, containing at first clear fluid, which, after twelve or twenty four hours, becomes milky. The blisters appear like little pearls scattered about the skin. They last three or four days, then dry up, and thin scabs are thrown off. The fluid they contain is sweat, and they are produced by excessive sweat ing. A pricking sensation is experienced in the skin when the blisters are being developed. To this affection the term prickly heat or summer rash is applied by some. It attacks in hot climates; and the troublesome prickly sensation prevents sleep during the night.
Treatment.— Warm baths should not be used. The skin should be kept cool and dry, and the excessive sweating avoided if possible. Over the skin some fine powder, starch, &c., may be dusted to allay the irritation.
Acne (Face Pimples—Stonepocks) is a chronic inflammation of the hair sacs and of their at tendant sebaceous glands. It appears as small red pimples chiefly on the face, chest, and back of young persons. They often arise after the mouths of the glands have been blocked by plugs of sebaceous matter—comedones,— which the pimples surround. Sometimes the inflam mation passes deeply into the skin, and the pimples extend inward as little nodules. Often matter is formed which appears on the surface of the pimple. When the matter has been discharged the nodule may disappear, but a scar is left to mark its former place. An acne pustule may be so large as to resemble a boil. The affection usually declines after the twenty-fifth year of age or so. An eruption of
acne pimples may be produced in some people by the taking of iodine as medicine, or by the application to the skin of some preparation of tar. Workmen who have to work with tar or some of its products are liable to exhibit such an effect.' Treatment.—Frequent rubbing with soap and water is recommended as one of the most efficacious means of treatment, because it softens the scarf-skin and removes some of its layers, and with them plugs blocking the sebaceous glands, the cause of the affection. When the back and chest are badly affected, hot baths greatly aid the treatment. A lotion of bichloride of mercury, grain to 1 ounce of water, and glycerine, is also valuable. The treatment must be steadily persevered in for a considerable time ; comedones (p. 435) should be removed by pressure, and matter should always be let out.
Acne Syeosis is a. form of the affection attacking hairy parts, specially the beard. Through each of the pimples or pustules a hair is seen to pass. The pimples may come out in crops so close together that patches of aflanied, thickened skin are formed, and sepa ate pimples not noticed. The matter produced my, in such cases, form crusts, pierced also ' oy hairs. The hairs are loosened and fall out, rid when the part heals, depressed scars are eft, on which hair does not again grow. Treatment.—The hairs over the diseased art should be cut short. Warm poultices hould be applied, and afterwards oil rubbed on to remove crusts. Thereafter the part hould daily be gone over by a surgeon, and mirs from all affected parts pulled out with 'orceps. After each such procedure white zinc )intment, or chrisina sulphur, should be rubbed n. Ilebra strongly advises daily shaving, not ally to aid iu curing the disease, but to prevent is return.
Acne Rosaeea (Gutty Roma) is an affection which appears on the face, specially the nose, forehead, cheeks, and chin, and is characterized by an intense reddening of the skin, without swelling. The redness is due to overfuluess of the blood-vessels. They can be partially emptied by firm pressure with the finger, so that the redness disappears from the pressed part, but it returns on removal of the finger. The person experiences a sensation of warmth over the affected part, especially after a meal or in the evening. One form is confined to the nose, in which the lines of over-full vessels are readily seen, and the nose is shiny by increased fatty substance from the glands. But it may extend from the nose to the cheeks, forehead, and chin.