2 
WOUNDS AND BRUISES OF THE LIPS. 
produce defects in the lips and cheeks, which both injure the animal’s 
appearance and interfere with feeding and drinking. Such defects 
frequently follow wounds in the corner of the mouth, where the buccal 
opening becomes lengthened (Makrostomy). 
Treatment. In surface injuries, small flaps of skin can be removed 
with scissors, when healing usually follows. To prevent deformity 
following extensive injury, attempts should be made to bring about 
healing by first intention. After removing loose shreds, the wound, which 
is usually dry, must be freshened, i.e., the surface removed with the 
scalpel to furnish the moist or bleeding flaps necessary for immediate 
union. The wound and its surroundings are then cleansed, the neigh¬ 
bouring long hair removed, the parts flooded with some fluid disinfectant 
(corrosive sublimate, creolin or carbolic solution), and the edges brought 
together as evenly and completely as possible. On account of the great 
mobility of the lips and their neighbourhood, pin sutures are here 
preferable. The pins should be inserted deeply and at distances of 
about J to 1 inch, being secured by a continuous thickish thread applied 
in a figure of 8. Ordinary sutures sometimes suffice. For further 
security, and to fix the edges, the wound may be smeared with collodion 
or wound gelatine, 1 over which may be placed tow or jute or strips 
of gauze. 
Deep wounds at the corners of the mouth or on the cheeks require 
particular precautions. Button sutures (see Dollar’s “ Operative 
Technique,” p. 140, etc.) are most useful, and the ligature, which 
must be strong, should be passed right through the cheek ; lead or 
brass wire is also suitable. Injury to the wound can be avoided by 
putting the horse on the pillar reins. Where healing by primary 
intention is desired, water alone must be given for the first 24 hours, 
and during the following few days only gruel or bran mash. After 
six to eight days the stitches can be removed from the lips, but those 
in the corners of the mouth or in the cheeks should be left a couple 
of days longer. In fistulae about the cheeks the hardened walls are 
removed by caustics or the actual cautery, and a purse-string suture 
inserted. The inner opening of the fistula may sometimes be closed by 
passing a suture through the mucous membrane. 
1 Wound gelatine was first described by Frick as “sublimate glycerine gelatine” ( Arch 
fur pract. u. iviss. TMerheillmn.de, 1886, p. 397). To prepare it, ordinary sheet gelatine is 
soaked in sufficient 1 per cent, sublimate solution to cover it. After it has become quite soft 
it is melted by gentle heat, and a quantity of glycerine equal to one-tenth of the weight of 
the dry gelatine added. This gives the material an elastic character. To use it, it is melted 
on a slow fire and painted over the wound. It sets in a few seconds, adheres equally well to 
moist or dry surfaces, and is much preferable to collodion. The surface can be strengthened 
by laying on it, while moist, shreds of tow or strips of gauze. 
