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Seções: Índice Geral Seção Atual: Índice Obra: Índice Anterior: 6. Sobre a Complexão – III Seguinte: 8. Sobre o Cabelo – I
(p. 51) 7. SOBRE PELOS SUPÉRFLUOS, MANCHAS E SINAIS
MY DEAR LAURA, – My present letter, in accordance with your request, will be devoted to the treatment of superfluous hair, moles, warts, and similar defects, whether occurring on the face or elsewhere.
Superfluous hair is of two kinds, and as the same treatment does not equally suit both, it is necessary I should distinguish between them at the outset. On the chin and upper lip, especially in women of dark complexion and mature age, it is not unusual to see a growth of stiff, isolated hairs, almost as conspicuous as those of the eyebrows, though not so close and numerous. The same kind of hair, but even more bristly in character, sometimes sprouts from moles upon the face or other parts of the person. The other kind of superfluous hair is called lanugo. It is mere down, soft, and usually very much thicker in growth than the stiff hairs above described. It grows upon the outer side of the arms, the anterior surface of the legs, and about the upper lip, chin, and lateral parts of the face, appearing usually at adult age, and growing more robustly on dark than on fair skins.
The methods by which superfluous hair of these two varieties may be removed are four in number. The first and most general method is that of applying a chemical depilatory. Depilatory powders, the commonest being (p. 52) composed of sulphide of arsenic (orpiment) or of caustic lime, are used for the purpose of burning off the hairs, but the roots always remain uneradicated and the hairs reappear. Here is the very best depilatory preparation known to me, and I recommend it with confidence: –
Barii sulphidi ............................................................. 3 ii. Pulv. oxidi zinci .................................................. aa 3 iij. Pulv. Amyli ......................................................... aa 3 iij.
Mix with enough water for a paste, smear it lightly over the hairy part, and in from five to ten minutes wash it off, when the hairs will come with it. Sulphide of sodium also makes a good depilatory when thus formulated: –
Sodii sulphidi ............................................................ 3 ii. Cretae praeparatae ................................................. 3 vi.
Mix and apply as above.
After using a chemical depilatory, a drop or two of sweet oil should be applied to the denuded surface, in order to allay the irritation and heat of the cuticle. The whole operation should be performed at the night toilette, just before going to bed, so that by the morning the local disturbance may have completely subsided.
The second method of removing superfluous hairs is mechanical, and is accomplished by means either of the tweezers or of a resin stick, heated to melting point, clapped on the hair part, allowed to remain in contact with the skin a minute, and then sharply withdrawn. This method gives perhaps less trouble than the first, but it is decidedly more painful, and of its two varieties, the tweezers are, I think, preferable, especially when the hairs to be removed are stiff and few in number. Düsser’s “Pâte Epilatoire” is the best adaptation I have yet seen of the mechanical method for cases in which epilation by tweezers would be tedious.
(p. 53) Next in order comes the solvent method, which, however, does not suffice of itself to remove hair, but facilitates epilation either with the tweezers or with resin. Its effect is to dissolve the natural fat of the hair follicles, and thereby render the hairs loose, and easy to pluck out. The solvent is thus composed: –
AEtheris ................................................................... 3 v. Spiritus vini rect. ................................................... 3ij ss. Thymol ................................................................... 3 ss. Misce.
Lastly, we have the galvanic method, recommended by most medical writers on the skin, and recently brought into considerable vogue by Drs. de Watteville, Michel, Hardaway, Piffard, Fox, Duhring, Startin, and others. This method is called electrolysis, and is not applicable save by the skilled hand of an adept. It consists in the introduction of a fine needle into the hair-follicle and the destruction of the papilla by means of the galvanic current The needle – usually either a very fine sewing-needle ground down to hair-like dimensions, or an ordinary “bead-needle,” and attached to a small holder – is connected with the negative pole; the positive pole, with sponge electrode, being held by the patient. From six to a dozen cells of a recently-charged galvanic battery are requisite. The needle is introduced into the follicle without extracting the hair, which is loosened by the galvanic current, set in operation when the patient touches the sponge electrode. After the current has been in action for about half a minute or less, the needle should be removed. If the patient relinquishes the electrode before the needle is taken from the follicle, a shock will result. A slight froth accumulates about the follicle after the operation, and a little redness, sometimes followed by the formation of a small pustule, which, (p. 54) however, soon disappears. No scar results, or ought to result, if the operator is skilful and experienced. As for the pain caused by electrolysis it is very slight. Nervous persons are more affected by the process than others, and it ought not to be attempted whenever the patient exhibits fear or hysterical tendencies. The sensation caused by the current is really disagreeable only when brought to bear on the region of the upper lip and other acutely susceptible parts. This method is the only one by which hairs can be really eradicated, and even by this method a single operation does not always suffice. If the base of the follicle is not reached by the needle, the hair will sprout again, and another sitting will be necessary.
Now that I have described to you in detail the four modes at present known of treating superfluous hair, you will easily see why I began by establishing a distinction between lanugo or down, and separate stiff hairs. Electrolysis is applicable only to these last. Applied to mere down it would not only be an intolerably tedious process, but the time and trouble it would involve would cost a fortune. Isolated and conspicuous hairs on the chin or upper lip may be very conveniently removed by the galvanic battery, and, as we shall presently see, the same method is equally useful in dealing with hairy moles; but for the removal of soft downy hairs, chemical and mechanical depilatories constitute the only available means of treatment.
And now let us turn to the consideration of moles, warts, and other “beauty-spots.” These blemishes are sometimes merely pigmentary, sometimes both pigmentary and hairy. They may be elevated above the skin, or level with it. Usually they are congenital, and are then known as naerior birth-marks, but, under some (p. 55) circumstances, they develop in childhood or even later. The colouring matter which constitutes them is deposited in the deeper portion of the subcuticle, so that a scar usually results if they are removed either by the knife or by the actual cautery – hot iron. Ligature by means of a silk or silver thread tightly wound round the root of the excrescence is a method applicable to large pendent warts, which, thus treated, shrivel and drop off, when the base can be cauterised with a nitrate of silver stick. Common warts, without a pedicle, may be removed by repeated applications of strong acetic acid, nitric acid, caustic potash, lunar caustic in pencil, tincture of chloride of iron and hydrochloric acid. In applying any of these remedies, care must be taken not to touch with them the surrounding skin, else a stain and soar may result. It is best to isolate the wart or mole before putting on the caustic, by spreading a thin layer of soft wax or spermaceti over the adjacent surface. All the agents enumerated are liable, it must be borne in mind, to leave permanent marks behind them, and, in the case of moles on the face, these marks may after all prove to be more disfiguring than the original blemish.
Children and young people who suffer from abnormally moist hands, a feeble constitution, and general debility of health, sometimes have multiple warts of various sizes on the hands and fingers. In the treatment of these the internal administration of arsenic and other medicines is often advisable, combined with the local application of a paste made of precipitated sulphur, glacial acetic acid, and glycerine in equal parts. This paste must be freshly made at the time of using, and spread evenly over the warts. But the best of all treatments for the removal of moles, warts, and other pigmentary or excrescent blemishes is electrolysis. The mode of operation is the (p. 56) same as that just described in the case of superfluous hairs, only that when applied to solid growths of skin more than one sitting is invariably necessary, and the duration of the galvanic action should be continued as long at a time as is found bearable. “Port wine” marks, which usually are amenable to no other treatment, may be removed in a similar manner, so also may naeri of other kinds, liver-stains, obstinate freckles, and even local skin disease, when independent of general ill-health. Affections of the cuticle characterised by thickening or infiltration are those which best lend themselves to the influence of the galvanic current. The powerful modification thus produced on the circulation, absorption, and nutrition of the tissues may even, Dr. de Watteville thinks (Practical Introduction to Medical Electricity), be brought to bear successfully on such forms of dermal affection as acne, eczema, neurotic baldness, chilblains, and herpes.
Electrolysis is especially valuable as a cure for cutaneous vascular formations, whether congenital or acquired. This kind of skin complaint is not uncommon, often appearing in mature life and in connection with acne or some other generalised affection of the kind. It consists of patches of dilated blood vessels situated in the subcutaneous tissues, irregular in shape, and varying in colour from dark purple to bright pink. These patches may appear singly or in numbers on any part of the face or person, but they are most commonly seen on the nose or cheek. Their aspect is that of a fine network of distended veins, tortuous and serpentine in appearance, and more or less distinctly outlined. The affected part often burns and assumes a shiny look. Vascular marks of this character, whether recent or congenital, can be entirely eradicated by the galvanic battery, after all other (p. 57) known methods of cure have been vainly tried. Moreover, the use of caustics, blisters, heated irons, and knives often causes suppuration, is always more or less painful, sometimes, indeed, violently so, and is liable, after cicatrisation, to leave disfiguring scars. The pain caused by electrolysis is very slight, comparatively, and with some patients amounts merely to a disagreeable sensation; in every case it ceases immediately after the removal of the needle, and scarcely ever scars. Sometimes the cuticle which has been the seat of the naevus or of the mole assumes a thick white coagulate appearance, but this is not conspicuous, and is wholly unattended by contraction of the skin. The eradication of small and superficial formations, whether protuberances or vascular patches, by electrolysis, is never followed by permanent marks when the operation is ably performed. Considering, therefore, the manifest advantage of this method of cure, its rapidity, simplicity, safety, efficacy, and superior results, as well as the absence of all haemorrhage, and the insignificance of the pain caused by it, I think it hardly worth while to trouble you with further details of other and less commendable modes of treatment.
Seções: Índice Geral Seção Atual: Índice Obra: Índice Anterior: 6. Sobre a Complexão – III Seguinte: 8. Sobre o Cabelo – I
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