I think this subject is deserving of profound consideration, when we
know that there are establishments in most of our leading cities that
advertise the cure of catarrh for so much a month. Their methods are
simply to insist on the patient coming to their offices daily, and
having their noses thoroughly cleansed. And they are curing many cases.
Would it not be wise to educate our patients, not only to keep their own
noses clean, and thus cure themselves, but, by attending to themselves
early enough, avoid the development of that, perhaps, most prevalent of
all diseases, catarrh?
GALVANISM IN NASAL HYPERTROPHY.[2]
BY JOHN B. GARRISON, M. D., NEW YORK.
Hypertrophic rhinitis is one of the most frequent of the diseased
conditions pertaining to the nasal cavities that we are called upon to
treat, and the question of the most suitable method of treatment is to
be decided with care.
We have all used, for the removal of the excess of tissue, perhaps, with
more or less success, the acids, the actual cautery, or some form of
cutting instrument, but the patient, at least, will welcome a method
that promises a good result with the least amount of pain at the time of
treatment, and the least soreness afterward.
I have found that the application of the galvanic current does, in many
cases, furnish just the method desired, and I shall beg your attention
for a few minutes while I speak of the method as I practice it.
I shall not burden you with my ideas of what cause most enters into the
production of these nasal hypertrophies, leaving to you the perusal of
the text-books that will give all the knowledge extant upon the subject.
We do find an increase of the nutritive forces, and our treatment must
be directed to a lessening of the blood supply in some way. Of course
where there is a local source of irritation, that must be removed at
once. If it is a deflected septum that is causing an irritation by
contact with the opposite side, suitable means must be adopted for its
repair before attempting to treat the hypertrophies opposing the
irregularities of the septum.
The hypertrophies that I shall speak of as being most amenable to
treatment by means of the aid suggested in my title are mainly those of
the turbinated bodies: and, of these, the inferior is the one most often
enlarged. It may be confined to either extremity, or the whole body may
be the subject of hypertrophy. When, as is sometimes the case, the bony
portion of the turbinate has become enlarged, the saw, and not
electricity, will be the best means of cure.
But when the occlusion of the nares is caused by true increase of tissue
we have, in galvanic electricity, a potent agent to safely and rapidly
remove the obstruction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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