Bandaging Tibial Ulcers.

For many years I have treated tibial ulcers with the use of bandages, after the method taught when I was in college, by Prof. A. J. Howe, M. D. He advised that the bandage be made from white flannel—that which is called baby flannel. The bandage is made after the form of an ordinary roller bandage, two and a half inches wide and from fifteen to eighteen feet in each roller, rolled up close and tight. The application is made after the method of an ordinary roller bandage. The ulcers are first cleansed with some antiseptic lotion, such as a solution of asepsin, or a lotion made from combining one dram of echafolta and half of a dram of calendula to a pint of water. The bandage is applied from the toe to the knee, once each day until the ulcers are healed. This simple course has been very satisfactory with me. I have treated ulcers that have existed for years and in patients between 75 and 80 years of age, with complete cures.

J. C. ANDREWS, M. D.

COMMENT.—The method of treating tibial ulcers by bandaging has been in vogue for perhaps thirty years. But few physicians, however, have found the method applicable to all cases indiscriminately. While many cases are benefited by it, and a number of cases are cured, provided all other conditions abnormal are corrected, there are still other cases that may be successfully treated without it.

A rubber bandage made of very thin rubber has proved successful in many cases, when properly applied, but the objections to its use are that it confines the excretions and is difficult of application, by which uniform pressure can be made. Bandages made of an elastic mesh are satisfactory in some cases.

Ellingwood's Therapeutist, Vol. 3, 1909, was edited by Finley Ellingwood M.D.