Warts most commonly appear on the hands of children, but may appear on
any part of the body and at all ages. They may disappear quickly or
remain indefinitely. They are not communicable from one person to
another.
=Treatment.=--Warts may be removed by painting them frequently with
the fresh juice of the milkweed, or with acetic acid or tincture of
iodine. These remedies are all harmless, but somewhat slow and not
always effective. Application, morning and evening, of a saturated
solution of "washing soda" (impure bicarbonate of potash) will often
remove a wart.
=CORNS.=--Corns are local, cone-shaped thickenings of the outer layer
of the skin of the feet, due to pressure and friction of the shoes, or
opposed surfaces of skin between the toes. They are not in themselves
sensitive, but pain follows pressure upon them, as they act as
foreign bodies in bearing down upon the sensitive lower layers of the
skin. Continued irritation often leads to inflammation of the skin
around and beneath the corn with the formation of pus. Ordinarily,
corns are tough, yellowish, horny masses, but, when moistened by sweat
between the toes, they are white, and are called "soft corns."
=Treatment.=--Comfortable shoes are the first requisite; well-fitting
and neither tight nor loose. Pressure may be taken off the corns by
surrounding them with felt rings or corn plaster. To remove the corn
the foot should be soaked for a long time in warm water, in which is
dissolved washing soda, and then the surface of the corn is gently
scraped off with a clean, sharp knife. Another useful method consists
in painting the corn, night and morning for five days, with the
following formula, when both the coating and corn will come off on
soaking the same for some time in warm water:
Salicylic acid 30 grains
Tincture of iodine 10 drops
Extract of Cannabis Indica 10 grains
Collodion 4 drams
Mix.
When the tissues about the corn become inflamed the patient must rest
with the foot elevated and wrapped in a thick layer of absorbent
cotton saturated with a hot solution of corrosive sublimate (one
tablet to the pint of water) and covered with oil silk or rubber
cloth. Pus must be let out with a knife which has been laid in boiling
water.
If corns are removed by the knife the foot should be previously made
absolutely clean, the knife boiled, and the paring not carried to the
extent of drawing blood. The too-close removal of a corn may lead to
infection of the wounded tissues with germs, and in old people, and
those with feeble circulation, gangrene or erysipelas may result. Soft
corns are treated by removal of the surface layer, by soaking in
washing soda and hot water and scraping as above stated, and then the
corn should be dusted with a mixture of boric acid and zinc oxide,
equal parts, and the toes kept apart by pads of absorbent cotton.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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