Method of Using Regional Iodine Therapy in the Correction of Various
Pathological Conditions.
If the reader has made an effort to follow me in what I have said in
the foregoing chapters of this treatise, he will have no difficulty in
applying, to cases occurring in his practice, many of the suggestions
offered.
In this, the closing chapter of the treatise on regional iodine
therapy, I intend to refer to a small number of conditions, in the
handling of which I have found great satisfaction in the use of the
preparations heretofore mentioned, and, at the same time, I shall
endeavor to explain my own particular methods of using the preparations.
I have already disposed of the manner in which the applications of
tincture of iodine are made, previous to incision of the integument,
in surgical operations. Aside from this quite common use of this
preparation, I have found tincture of iodine of great worth as an
application to calk wounds in the coronary region of the equine foot.
When the injured horn has been pared away under the wound in the
coronary band, and the loose particles of flesh and hair cleaned away,
the wound is freely painted with pure tincture of iodine. This painting
is to be repeated several times daily, until recovery takes place.
Severe infections rarely occur if the applications are begun within a
few hours after the accident occurs.
Whenever tincture of iodine is used, for the correction of an
abnormality in the horse and cow, it must be applied very liberally if
the effect is desired with any degree of promptness. This, together
with the fact that the tincture is quite irritating to the skin of
animals--a fact that precludes an extensive course of treatment with
this preparation--makes iodine, in this form, an agent that is chiefly
of use in acute conditions, and it is, therefore, the agent of choice
to act as an adjunctive treatment to the internal handling of such
conditions as septicemia, strangles, distemper, parotitis, lymphangitis
of a localized character, and acute inflammations in tendons,
ligaments, and synovial bursae. In any of these conditions, it is best
applied with a small, rather stiff brush, painting it liberally, over
the parts involved, several times daily. If the parts become very much
irritated from these applications, the treatment must be stopped and
the area treated with a coating of vaseline or lard.
The oily preparations of iodine are especially useful in various skin
diseases, ring-worm, and the parasitic form of scratches in horses.
The secret, in the successful handling of these conditions with
oily preparations of iodine, lies in the abstinence from water; the
parts should be given one thorough washing, when treatment is first
begun, after which no more water should be applied. If the parts need
cleansing, while the course of treatment is under way, it should be
done in a dry manner, with clean cloths or cotton wads.
Oily preparations of iodine may also be used to anoint the arms of the
surgeon during the handling of infected cases of obstetrics. Pouring a
quantity of the preparation into the palm of the hand, and then rubbing
it gently over the skin of both hands and arms, proves a reliable
barrier to infection from a decomposed fetus or after-birth.
In applying the oily preparations of iodine, to lesions on the
integument, it is always necessary to massage them into the tissues
quite vigorously; when this is done a single application each day
suffices.
Other indications for the oily preparations, as well as for aqueous
preparations, of iodine, have been pointed out in the chapter devoted
to the selection of iodine preparations for practical use.
Ointments of iodine--which, for me, mean Iodex--have, by far, the
most extensive field of application, and the uses to which an iodine
ointment may be put have already been quite clearly indicated. I
will, however, remark some of the points to be considered in using
Iodex in such cases as spavin lameness and similar affections of the
articulations.
In choosing, for treatment with Iodex, a case of spavin lameness, the
practitioner should select only those cases in which the horse warms
out of the lameness; these cases can positively be cured by Iodex
applications. Do not attempt to cure the lameness caused by spavin in
which the horse will not warm out of the lameness; these cases are not
only impossible of cure by this means but by other means, excepting
neurectomy, as well.
When the case has been selected, the Iodex should be applied, not
only in the immediate vicinity of the exostosis, but entirely around
the hock involved. An application should be made every morning and
every evening, in the following manner: Apply a thin coating of Iodex
and massage it into the hock for at least five minutes; then apply
another very thin coating, allowing this to remain on the surface.
The applications must extend over a period of from five to seven
weeks--about such a length of time as is required to effect a cure
with actual cautery--and, during the first few weeks of this period,
the animal should be at rest. After the second week, it may indulge in
light exercise in a lot or paddock, but may not be worked.
Cases of spavin, treated in this manner--cases selected for treatment
as above outlined--are not only cured of lameness, but, in many cases,
the enlargement also disappears.
The same results are obtained in cases of lameness from ringbone,
sidebone, splint and curb.
Buck shins can be entirely absorbed with applications of Iodex as
directed above.
Other conditions, in which the effects of Iodex frequently are most
remarkably satisfactory, are goitre, fibrous tumors on the body
surface, hygroma, and tendonous and ligamentous enlargements.
The applications, in these conditions, are made in a manner similar to
that in spavin, massaging the Iodex thoroughly into the parts involved.
In bringing this treatise to an end, I would again urge the
practitioner to add Iodex to his therapeutic armament, and use it not
only in the conditions of which I have here made mention, but in many
other indications for iodine therapy which come up almost daily in
every veterinary practice.