GENERAL THERAPEUTICS OF THE SKIN AND MUCOUS 



MEMBRANES 



Physiology. — The skin and mucous membranes are in the first 

 place protective organs, guarding the body against external influ- 

 ences. The skin especially being exposed to numerous and varied 

 insults must possess a resistant structure and a particularly strong 

 regenerative capacity. This is actually the case, as is demon- 

 strated most markedly in the healing of wounds. (See the chapter 

 of general surgery on primary and secondary healing of wounds.) 

 No loss of tissue is more readily replaced by natural healing 

 than epithelium or epidermis. In many cases, natural healing 

 alone removes the defect. 



In addition to their protective action, the skin and mucous 

 membranes have other important physiological functions. These 

 latter include secretion (water, mucus, urea, salts, bacteria, 

 toxins, gases), respiration (cutaneous respiration), regulation of 

 heat (evaporation, radiation) and reflex action. The reflex ac- 

 tivity of the skin and mucous membranes is of the greatest impor- 

 tance in therapeutics because of the numerous specialized nerve- 

 end apparatuses they contain and also because of the manifold 

 relations of the skin to the internal organs (central nervous sys- 

 tem, circulatory apparatus, respiration, kidneys, gastro-intestinal 

 canal, metabolism). (See the chapter on the so-called cutaneous 

 irritant or derivative method.) 



Therapeutic Methods. — The many different diseases to which 

 these structures are liable, together with the extensive relations of 

 the skin to the internal organs, combine to make the therapeutics 

 of the skin and mucous membranes a very comprehensive subject. 

 Wounds, inflammation, eczemas, catarrhs, infections, parasites, 

 tumors and many other disease conditions call for numerous special 

 methods of treatment. Of these, the antiseptic (including disin- 

 fection) treatment of wounds, the antiparasitic method of treat- 

 ment and hydrotherapy, as well as the diaphoretic method of 



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