Eczema of the Hands

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 25, 1912

Eczema of the Hands

“I HAVE eczema of the hands, with intense itching, sometimes thickened skin and cracks. Please tell me what to do for my condition. J. W. P.”

TREATMENT.—This condition when present, should never be given up as incurable; but the longer it has stood, the more difficult it is. The general idea that the local condition must be treated first, is a wrong one. Try to discover the cause of the disease, and remove it. Especially investigate the diet, the condition of the digestive organs, and the eliminative organs of the body. If the cause is a dietetic one, especially avoid fats, sugars, preserves, pickles, and fried and rich foods. Alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee, cocoa, confectionery, hot bread, cheese, and coarse vegetables should not be indulged in. Starchy foods may also have to be discarded. Eating between meals is harmful. The quantity of food taken may often with advantage be limited, and the intervals between eating be lengthened. The simpler the food, the better. Water-drinking should be encouraged, from six to eight glasses being taken in the twenty-four hours. Fruit-juices, milk, and buttermilk are also good drinks. Thorough daily elimination by way of the kidneys and bowels should be insisted upon. Water-drinking is best of all for flushing the kidneys; if medicine must be taken, castor-oil at night is a cathartic which may be used. General hygienic measures should be vigorously maintained.

Local treatment is also necessary. A good procedure is to wash the hands morning and night with a one-per-cent

solution of a carbolic preparation called lysol, after which apply a soothing application such as equal parts of lime-water and sweet-almond oil, or a paste consisting of equal parts of boracic-acid powder, starch, and bismuth subnitrate. After applying either of these preparations, bandage the hands well with strips of old soft cotton. Repeat this local treatment until the condition has been relieved.

As a further protection of the eczematous patches during labor, gloves, finger-stall, or bandages may be worn; or the fingers may be dipped in some protective oily solution, or they may be dusted with lycopodium-powder. Avoid too frequent washing the parts with soap and water. Paint fissures or cracks with compound tincture of benzoin or with collodion. A useful paste to apply in these cases is made of ten parts each of glycerin and water. The above preventive measures will lessen the itching, but the following ointment is especially recommended for this:—

Five drops of carbolic acid, one dram of cacao-butter, and vaseline or lanolin enough to make one ounce. Add four drams of lead plaster. This may be applied several times a day.

Burns

“Scalded hands. Please give treatment. H. P.”

TREATMENT.—If the burn is superficial and there is a mere reddening and smarting of the skin, cover the area with a paste made of bicarbonate of soda, and bandage. If the skin is burned to a blister or is partially destroyed, saturate some gauze in a one-per-cent solution of picric acid, apply to the area, cover with cotton, and bandage. This may be repeated till the pain has largely ceased. Care should be taken, if the burn is deep or the area large, that the patient is not rendered toxic by absorption of the acid applied to the burned parts. When the pain has ceased, remove the picric-acid dressing, and apply a powder composed of equal parts of boric-acid powder and bismuth subnitrate, and bandage; or one may use a dressing of gauze wet in boric-acid solution, which dressing should be resaturated with the solution as often as it dries. If blisters form, they should be pricked near their bases with a needle held a moment in a flame to sterilize it. If pus appears on any part of the area, cleanse with a one to one thousand bichlorid of mercury solution, apply a few drops of peroxid of hydrogen until the foaming largely ceases, and apply a boric-acid wet dressing as mentioned above.

Burns of a severe nature should be referred to a physician as soon as possible, though the boric-acid wet dressing may be applied in any case until the doctor arrives.