PRACTICAL WOUND APPLICATIONS 



By A. W. WALDRON, JR., D.V.S., Tullahoma, Tennessee 



While aseptic surgery is ideal it is far beyond the at- 

 tainment of the country practitioner in a location such 

 as this, where the farmers clean their stables but once a 

 year. 



Undeniably, all antiseptics irritate wounds and retard 

 healing ; but their use is imperative, and furthermore the 

 dressing must be as simple as possible to apply, and 

 should require but little of the attendant's time.. For as 

 a rule elaborate directions will not be followed. 



Each year I use less bichlorid and more tincture pf 

 iodin, which is I think the best application for the great 

 majority of wounds, both surgical and accidental. Ap- 

 plied once a day with a swab or syringe, and later every 

 second or third day, its effects are most satisfactory. 

 The pain its application occasions is ephemeral. By its 

 use we obtain most of the benefits of iodoform, without 

 the offensive odor and at far less expense than we could 

 use the powder. An application of 100 parts fish oil, 

 50 parts oil of tar, and 1 part carbolic acid, or the com- 

 mon "black oil," a petroleum prpduct, will protect the 

 wound from flies. Either one is both inexpensive and 

 effective. Paint around the wound with one of the 

 above three times a day. 



Iodin is most excellent for the general purposes of the 

 country practitioner, whose methods must almost always 

 be more or less rough and ready. It is a useful applica- 

 tion to the points of sutures, for sterilizing a line of in- 

 cision, and as an application to many forms of contused 



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