The following mild antiseptic lotion, which materially lessens the tendency to the formation of new lesions, may be applied to the affected region two or three times daily:--
[Rx] Acidi borici, ........................ [dram]iv Resorcini, ........................... [dram]ij Glycerinæ, ........................... f[dram]ij Alcoholis, ........................... f[Oz]j Aquæ, ........... q.s. ad ............ Oj. M.
A weak lotion of thymol, corrosive sublimate or ichthyol would doubtless be equally effectual.
Pemphigus is an acute or chronic disease characterized by the successive formation of irregularly-scattered, variously-sized blebs.
Two varieties are usually described--pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigus foliaceus.
#Describe the symptoms and course of pemphigus vulgaris.#
With or without precursory symptoms of systemic disturbance, irregularly scattered blebs, few or in numbers, make their appearance, arising from erythematous spots or from apparently normal skin. They vary in size from a pea to a large egg, are rounded or ovalish, usually distended, and contain a yellowish fluid which, later, becomes cloudy or puriform. If ruptured, the rete is exposed, but the skin soon regains its normal condition; if undisturbed, the fluid usually disappears by absorption. Each lesion runs its course in several days or a week.
A grave type of pemphigus is exceptionally observed in the newborn--_pemphigus neonatorum_.
#What course does pemphigus vulgaris pursue?#
Usually chronic. The disease may subside in several months and the process come to an end, constituting the acute type. As a rule, however, the disease is chronic, new blebs continuing to appear from time to time for an indefinite period.
[Illustration: Fig. 30. Pemphigus (mulatto).]
#In what respects does the severe form of pemphigus vulgaris differ from the ordinary type?#
In the severe or malignant type the eruption is more profuse; there is marked, and often grave, systemic depression, and the lesions are attended with ulcerative action.
#Describe the symptoms and course of pemphigus foliaceus.#
In this, the grave type of the disease, the blebs are loose and flaccid, with milky or puriform contents, rupturing and drying to crusts, which are cast off, disclosing the reddened corium. New blebs appear on the sites of disappearing or half-ruptured lesions, and the whole surface may be thus involved and the disease continue for years, compromising the general health and eventually ending fatally.