The fomentation is a local application analogous to such general
appliances as the hot pack, vapor bath, and hot-air bath. It consists in
the application of a cloth wet in hot water. It may be considered as a
hot compress. Fold a soft _flannel_ cloth twice, so that it will be of
three or four thicknesses. Lay it in a basin, pour boiling water upon
it, and wring it dry by folding it in a dry towel. Or, if only one end
of the cloth is wet, it may be wrung by folding the dry portion outside
of the wet; in wringing, the whole will become equally wet. Apply it to
the patient as hot as it can be borne. The second application can
usually be made much hotter than the first. Frequently dipping the hands
in cold water will enable the attendant to wring the cloth much hotter
than he would otherwise be able to do. The most convenient way is to
heat the cloths in a steamer; by this means they are made as hot as
boiling water, and yet they are more easily handled, not being saturated
with water. When no hot water is at hand, a fomentation may, in an
emergency, be quickly prepared by wetting the flannel in cool water,
wringing it as dry as desired, folding it between the leaves of a
newspaper, and laying it upon the top of the stove, or holding it
smoothly against the side. The paper prevents the cloth from becoming
soiled, the water protects the paper from burning, and the steam
generated quickly heats the cloth to boiling heat. For a long
fomentation, the heat may be made continuous by applying over the wet
cloth a hot brick or slab of soapstone.
The hot cloths should be re-applied once in five minutes. Two cloths
should be employed, so that the second may be applied the moment the
first is removed. To retain the heat, a dry flannel, rubber, or oilcloth
should be placed over the fomentation. The application may be continued
from ten minutes to half an hour, or longer in special cases. This
appliance is very powerful, and should not be employed to excess.
Alternate hot and cold fomentations are frequently more efficient than
the continuous fomentation. Hot applications should always be followed
by a cool or tepid compress for four or five minutes, at least.
The uses of the fomentation are very numerous. It is indicated whenever
there is local pain without excessive heat, or evidences of acute
inflammation. Local congestions, neuralgia, toothache, pleurisy,
pleurodynia, and most local pains vanish beneath its potent influence as
if by magic. For indigestion, colic, constipation, torpid liver,
dysmenorrhea, and rheumatic pains, it is a remedy of great power, and is
used with almost uniform success. In relieving sick headache by
application to the head, neck, and stomach, its efficiency is unrivaled.
When applied to the head for some time without intermission, it will
often occasion faintness; hence, a cooler application should be made
after the use of the hot cloths for fifteen or twenty minutes.
If the applications must be continued for a long time, it is well in
most cases to apply them at a temperature slightly lower than when they
are to be used for only a few minutes.
This remedy may well replace the blisters, plasters, cataplasms,
scarifications, rubefacients, and other irritating measures so long used
for relieving pain, local congestions, and inflammations.