Page:Skin Diseases of Children.djvu/75

Rh ment is completely lost—a salve which is certain to irritate the delicate and inflamed skin and to aggravate the eruption.

More than a quarter-century ago Erasmus Wilson decided, after years of experience, that in acute infantile eczema the best method of treatment was by laxative doses of calomel and the external use of zinc ointment. While not unmindful of the progress which dermatology has made during this time, and in face of the flood of new remedies which is constantly pouring into our drug market, I defy any one in dermatological or pediatric practice to lay down a general method of treatment which, in the average case of infantile eczema, is practically superior to the one suggested by Wilson. A little starch or talcum added to zinc ointment will stiffen it and cause it to dry upon the skin, and thus obviate the necessity of smearing cloths and holding them in place by a bandage or mask. When a patch of eczema has ceased to exude and is in the final or squamous stage, a little oil of cade (one to five per cent) added to the zinc ointment or paste will greatly increase its efficacy in restoring the skin to a normal condition.

The tendency of soap and water to aggravate a moist eczema and to nullify the best of treatment is now generally understood by the profession. Indeed, the knowledge of this fact often leads the physician to forbid bathing in cases of dry eczema, when a daily bath would tend to improve the condition of the skin and benefit the patient. It is only in acutely inflamed and exuding eczema that water is necessarily injurious.

The regulation of the diet in case of eczematous children is of the utmost importance, as here may generally be discovered the cause of the eruption. With children old enough to go to the table, and especially with those who are apt to get whatever they cry for, a restriction of the diet to pure milk will often do much toward effecting a cure. It is very difficult to lay down dietetic rules of general application, for what will prove best suited to some children will fail to agree with many others; but it is certain that whenever a judicious local treatment appears to have little effect upon the eruption, the closest attention to the diet and condition of the stools becomes imperative. In many cases the local treatment which has produced no beneficial effect will work like magic as soon as the bowels are freely opened and the digestion improved.

The administration of arsenic, antimony, and other powerful