Excoriation Health Dictionary

Roxb ex DC.

Family: Papilionaceae; Fabaceae.

Habitat: The sub-Himalayan tract, up to 1,200 m from Indus to Assam and in plains throughout India.

English: Sissoo, South Indian Redwood, Sissoo.

Ayurvedic: Shimshapaa, Krishna- shimshapaa, Picchilaa.

Unani: Seesham.

Siddha/Tamil: Irupoolai.

Action: Leaves—bitter, and stimulant. Leaf mucilage, mixed with sweet oil, is applied to excoriations. Wood—anthelmintic, alterative, emetic, stomachic, antileprotic; used in diseases due to vitiated blood. Bark—anticholerin. Root—astringent.

Along with other therapeutic applications, The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India indicated the use of the heart- wood in turbity of the urine, calculus and lipuria.

The leaves gave isoflavone sissotrin; flowers 7,4'-di-Me-tectorigenin. Seed oil (4.1%) contained fatty acids composed of palmitic (16.2), stearic (7.0%), oleic (14.6), linolenic (9.80) and linole- ic (52.5) acids and lipids comprising neutral lipids (88.5), glycolipids (7.2) and phospholipids (4.0%). Pods contain 2% tannins.

Dosage: Heartwood—1.5-10 g powder; 10-20 g for decoction. (API Vol. III.)... dalbergia sissoo

A parasitic infestation of the head, the hairy parts of the body and the clothing by adult lice, larvae and nits (eggs), which often results in severe itching and excoriation of the scalp and body. Secondary infection can occur. Infesting agents include Pediculus capitis, the head louse, P. humanus, the body louse, and Pthirus pubis, the crab louse, which usually infest the pubic region, but may also infest the hair of the face, axillae and the bodysurfaces.... pediculosis

(body louse) di?ers from the head and crab louse in that it lives in clothing and only goes on to the body to feed. Infestation is found in vagabonds, armies in the ?eld, or prisoners in conditions where even minimal hygiene is impossible. The lice are found in the seams of clothing together with multiple eggs. Typically excoriation and pigmentation are seen on the back of the infested person. Replacement of clothing or autoclaving or hot ironing of the clothes is curative.... pediculus humanus var. corporis

A common contagious itching disease caused by Sarcoptes scabei hominis (see SARCOPTES) which can live only on human skin. The fertilised female burrows into the skin surface, creating a tunnel within the stratum corneum in which she deposits 2–3 eggs per day, as well as faecal pellets which contain the ALLERGEN which initiates the immune reaction responsible for symptoms. The adult female is just visible. Eggs hatch within 3–4 days, producing larvae. After successive moults these become adult mites and the 15-day lifecycle re-starts. A rapid build-up of mite numbers is not noticed by the host until an immune response induces itching after about six weeks. Subsequently, scratching reduces the adult mites to a dozen or fewer. Scabies is spread by skin-to-skin contact, usually via the hands: it thus spreads in a family or sexual setting. Though most common in young adults, scabies can affect any age-group.

Typically the patient complains of widespread severe itching, worse when the body is warm after a bath or in bed. Burrows are visible as wavy black lines 3–5 mm long in the skin of the hands, wrists or sides of the feet. The intensity of the rash depends on the immune response. Papules, pustules, crusts and excoriations are seen on the hands and there may be a widespread eczematous (see DERMATITIS) or urticarial (see URTICARIA) rash elsewhere. Papules or even nodules on the PENIS and SCROTUM are characteristic. In infants, burrows occur on the palms and soles. Diminished immune response in old age, DOWN’S (DOWN) SYNDROME, etc. lead to a type of scabies which is less itching and more scaly. Rarely, absence of immune response causes a mite-saturated, generalised scaly dermatitis (Norwegian scabies). Admission of such a patient to hospital may result in an outbreak of scabies in other patients, sta? and visitors caused by mite-infested airborne scale.

Treatment MALATHION 0·5 per cent aqueous lotion, or PERMETHRIN 5 per cent cream, applied to the whole body, except the head, for 24 hours and then washed o? cures the infection. In infants the head and neck should be included. The secondary eruption may take 2– 3 weeks to settle completely and 10 per cent crotamiton cream is used during this period. It is essential that all intimate contacts be treated simultaneously. FOMITES need not be treated.... scabies