Syphilitic lesions of the nails should be soaked and frequently cleansed with hot borated water or a hot mercuric chlorid solution (1:2000), dressed with mercurial ointment and covered with rubber or other protecting fingerlets. If hypertrophic granulations spring up they may be washed with bichlorid and dusted with calomel, or removed by fulguration or carbon dioxid freezing.
Alopecia due to syphilis may be somewhat lessened by keeping the hair cut short, the surface clean and rubbing in lightly at night an ointment of 10 grains of ammoniated mercury to an ounce of cold cream.
Mucous patches or deeper ulcerations of the mouth and other outlets of the body should be kept clean by careful use of sprays or washes of mercuric chlorid (1:1000). Calomel powder may be applied lightly to the surface of destructive ulcers with a cotton holder or by means of a glass tube always attached to a powder blower. Tobacco or alcohol should not be used in secondary syphilis, particularly when any lesions of the mouth exist. Then it will seldom be necessary to cauterize these lesions with the high-frequency spark, nitrate of silver or the stronger acid nitrate of mercury. The same local measures can be employed for condylomata lata as for mucous patches. Hydrogen peroxid is sometimes preferable as a cleansing wash and the surface of the lesions should be well dried before the calomel is dusted on. Mucous patches of the pharyngeal and buccal mucous membrane heal quickly if touched with a saturated solution of iodin crystals in Beechwood creosote. The removal of bad teeth, filing of sharp points and the proper care of the gums will lessen the tendency to mucous patches and other lesions of the mouth.
Treatment of hereditary syphilis is based on the same principles as suggested for the acquired type with due allowance for age and delicacy of tissue. If the father was syphilitic at the time of conception or the mother be syphilitic during pregnancy, the latter should be systematically treated throughout her pregnancy, both for her own and the child’s safety. After birth a syphilitic infant may be treated still through the mother indirectly, the latter being under treatment and nursing her child. Often this is impracticable and inadequate and remedies need to be administered to the child direct. Mercurials and other indicated drugs can be given usually in the 3x preparations without ill effects and, if the cutaneous lesions are severe or persistent, a mild ointment, such as 15 grains of calomel to an ounce of fresh lard, may be employed locally. In all cases absolute cleanliness of the diseased skin should be maintained and when a medicated ointment is not used the affected skin, especially about the buttocks and genitals, should be protected with applications of a bland fat or oil renewed as frequently as needed. If inunctions are used, 5 to 20 grains of a 50 per cent. mercurial ointment may be employed every two or three days, according to the age of the child and the intensity of the disease. Unless the affected infant is very weak, salvarsan (0.005 to 0.30 gram) may be given by intramuscular hypodermic. The Wassermann reaction and the clinical picture are the facts that must determine the length and character of the treatment. In general it may be said that mild mercurial inunctions and small doses of salvarsan are best for hereditary infantile syphilis.
Mercury, the iodids, salvarsan and other arsenical compounds are not the only remedies for acquired and hereditary syphilis. In nearly all cases a cure may be facilitated by occasionally suspending these so-called specifics during a lapse in the activity of the disease, because the better the general health is maintained, the greater is the relative immunity of the tissues to the advances of syphilis. Experience has shown the utility of the following drugs: Argen. nit., Arsen. iod., Aurum mur., Carbo animalis, Causticum, Coni., Condurango, Cuprum ars., Hepar, Kali bichrom., Lachesis, Lycopodium, Mez., Nat. arsen., N. mur., Nit. acid., Pet., Phosphorus, Phyto., Sepia., Silicea, Staphysagria, Stilling., Sul. and Thuja.
American homeopath, he directed several hospitals in New York.
Professor of dermatology.
Served as Lieut. Colonel during the 1st World War.
See his book online: American homeopathy in the world war