HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 October 1941, Page 2

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

TREATMENT OF COMMON COMPLAINTS BOILS. (Prepared and issued by the Health Department). Away back in 1852 someone noticed that brewers didn’t get boils. Obviously there was some connection between beer and boils. There was. It was the yeast. And since this discovery yeast has always been regarded as a good antidote for those extremely painful and embarrassing skin eruptions. The only catch about it is that people who take yeast medicinally still get boils. It was the same with tin and manganese. They cured some cases, but it may have been purely by chance. Vaccines have been introduced. They help a little, but they are regarded by dermatologists as of little | value. I So there it is. And boils crop up at all times and in all places with the same frequency as of yore. Never open or squeeze a boil. Many people do, but it is wrong. A single boil should be strapped with elastic plaster. This splints the part and keeps it at rest. Cover with two or three layers of plaster. If it starts to discharge, recover with plaster pierced with a hole to allow the discharge to get away. Cover the plaster with sterile absorbent dressing. Always keep the area clean, and sterilise with methylated spirits, because the discharge is highly infectious. In the case of multiple boils, the sufferer should take to bed, rest being the best cure. The actual boil areas should be immobilised with elastic plaster dressings, and it is advisable to call a doctor, because multiple manifestation is usually an indication of serious constitutional debility. Boils arise because of a person’s inability to resist the germs, commonly called staphlococci, which are always present on the skin. In other words, that person is run down. Resistance is built up by a balanced diet —fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, particularly liver, and at least a pint of milk and some cheese daily, together with a dose of a recognised vitamin concentrate. Resistance is worn down by physical and mental strain, and by poisons circulating continuously round the body from septic foci —this is, bad teeth, sinuses, septic tonsils, appendix or kidney trouble. Your doctor will know what is to be done about that.