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Show Nose Solutions Curb Number Of Operations By DR. JAMES W. BARTON IT IS very gratifying to note the number of operations in the nose and its adjoining sinuses is becoming fewer every year. In 1 former days TODAY'S any little block- u chit u age of the nose "LflLI n by a bent sep- COLUMN turn (partition I between nostrils) or by an enlarged turbinate bone was "corrected" by operation. Operations often meant loss of the lining membrane of the nose with total or partial loss of smell and the loss of the resisting re-sisting power of the nose in warding off infections also. Today, the use of salt and water or epinephrine or ephe-drine ephe-drine solutions, by shrinking the lining membrane of the nose, give the necessary relief re-lief in a great many cases. This shrinking of the lining or mucous membrane also helps the mucous in the sinuses to drain out properly. Nose and throat specialists state that if the air can get into the sinuses, thus "ventilating" them, there would be no accumulation of mucous mu-cous or pus in the sinuses and thereby many cases of catarrh ca-tarrh and deafness would be prevented. The drugs generally Dr. Barton used to shrink the mucous membrane are epinephrine (adrenalin) and ephedrine, the Chinese drug. In order to get the shrinking solution so-lution into the upper and lower halves of the sinuses, the method now coming into general use is to "lower" the head either well forward for-ward or to either side. Dr. Sidney N. Parkinson, Oakland, Calif., in the Journal of the American Medical Medi-cal Association recommends that the patient lie on his side with the head bent downward exactly side-wise, side-wise, weight being on shoulder. Shrinkage Methods. Some shrinkage is first obtained by the use of ephedrine solution in an atomizer. This may require five to ten minutes. The patient is then placed in the sidewise, head-low position po-sition and solution of ephedrine is placed in both nostrils. After three to five minutes the head is turned face downward to permit the solution solu-tion and any mucous to come away from the nostrils. Even when used at home, salt, epinephrine or ephedrine solutions by this simple method enable all the lining membranes to be reached and should give excellent results. The spraying or placing of "drops" up the nose fails to reach much of this lining membrane. |