Blisters

Below you'll find information on how they treated blisters in 1855.

Blistebs—Are employed in the practice of medicine principally with the intention of relieving the diseased condition of some internal organ, by producing a new irritation, or determination to the surface of the body, or, as it is usually termed, by counter irritation. Independently of this effect, Blisters act also as general stimulants to the system, and as such are frequently employed with much benefit in spasmodic affections arising from debility. This stimulant effect of Blisters should be borne in mind, and consequently their application should be avoided in the very acute stages of inflammatory diseases, until the general excitement is subdued by antiphlogistic means. The method of applying the Blister Plaster, and dressing the Blister which it forms, is extremely simple; but, nevertheless, many persons are entirely ignorant respecting it. A Blister should never be applied to any part of the skin which is excoriated or otherwise broken. The part to be blistered should be well cleaned with a little soap and water, and rubbed with a rough towel; and the Blister should have a margin of adhesive plaster to retain it in its place. In ordinary cases, the Blister Plaster is usually left on until the blister rises; but if the person be of an irritable habit, it may be taken off five or six hours after its application; it is also desirable to guard against strangury, and the irritant effects of absorption, by interposing a piece of gauze, or silver paper moistened with oil, between the skin and the Blistering Plaster: this is preferable to drinking largely of mucilaginous and other fluids, which often defeats the beneficial effects anticipated from a Blister. In general the excitement caused by the first action of a Blister Plaster disposes to sleep, and, unless an immediate effect be desired, or unless directions are given to apply a Blister at some particular time, they are usually applied at bedttime. Many persons have a dread of large Blisters, but when the full effect of Blistering is required, a large Blister is to be preferred to a small one, for the irritation from the former is not greater than from the latter, and the benefit is more decided. Large Blisters, however, depress more than small ones, consequently, where simple counter irritation is required in weak habits, small Blisters are to be preferred. When a Blister has been raised, the vesicle should be snipped with a pair of sharp scissors, at the most depending part, and the fluid evacuated. If the intention be to heal the blistered surface, the cuticle should not be removed, but be made smooth, and a piece of soft lint, spread with spermaceti ointment, applied over it. "Where (says Dr. Paris,) the local inflammation runs higher than we desire, no application will prove more soothing than a common bread and water poultice; and in those cases in which the blistered surface refuses to heal kindly, spermaceti ointment, mixed with finely levigated chalk, will often astonish by the rapidity of its healing influence." If the object be to form a perpetual Blister, the cuticle should be removed, either by cutting it round the edge with a pair of scissors, or by applying a hot poultice, which carries the cuticle away with it when it is taken off. In dressing the denuded part, in order to make the perpetual Blister, the lint upon which the irritating ointment (Savine) is spread, should be cut smaller than the blistered surface, and always afterwards kept of the same size. For the manner of dressing a perpetual Blister see Savine Ointment.
Source: A Family Medicine Directory ©1855