THE most perfectly modeled nose is a trial if it has the habit of getting spotty or turning red with or without apparent provocation. I do not know of anything more vexatious to womankind than a red, blotchy, or shining nose. Usually, although it is difficult to impress the fact upon the afflicted woman, red or blotchy the result of some excess or carelessness, often noses are aggravated until there is a well-defined malady which must be cured before the blush will fade or the eruption disappear. Acidity of the stomach, indigestion, dyspepsia, poor circulation, all mean more or less congestion, and frequently, the blotchy or fiery nose is the outward sign of an inward stomach derangement. Acidity of the stomach is very disagreeable to bear and destructive in its effects upon the complexion. In its eary stages it may often be controlled by the following most simple of remedies:
Half teaspoonful of sulphate of soda. Dissolve in half tumbler of boiling hot water. Drink as hot as you can one hour before breakfast. Repeat the dose in thirty minutes.
Pure, hot water, drunk as hot as possible, several glasses a day will often without any medicine at all cure this form of indigestion, and the red nose will vanish with the return of normal digestion. Tight lacing-tight clothing of any kind-any stricture, in fact, will sometimes produce a red or blotchy nose and it seems superfluous to advise the addition of an inch or two to the waist measure or looser shoes to the sufferer. Local irritation will also cause inflamed nostrils, and of course the influenza, rose fever, and that hideous epidemic called hay fever, have their accompaniment of weeping, inflamed noses and eyes. Change of climate, it is conceded, is the only escape from this yearly martyrdom, but I have seen wonderful effects produced in cases of chronic rose and hay fever by Marchand’s hydrozone and glycozone treatment as follows:
By means of an atomizer made of glass and rubber, spray the nose and throat copiously and repeatedly, morning and evening with a mixture made of:
One tablespoonful of hydrozone, with 8 to 20 tablespoonfuls of lukewarm water,
according to the degree of inflammation of the nasal cavities. In case of extreme sensitiveness, use even still a larger proportion of water.
Some patients may use a mixture, made of one part of hydrozone with four parts of water, while others could not stand it any stronger than one part of hydrozone diluted with thirty parts of lukewarm water.
Always take great care that the remedy passes through the post nasal cavities and reaches the throat, so as to thoroughly cleanse the diseased surface.
In the absence of an atomizer, apply the remedy to the nose by sniffing the liquid from the hand through the nostrils repeatedly, and gargle the throat. It is always beneficial to swallow the remedy.
Do not blow the nose too hard, as it might cause a temporary bleeding, on account of the excessive tenderness of the mucous membrane.
It often happens that the patient feels during one hour or so after each spraying, a temporary obstruction of either one or the other of the nostrils.
This unpleasant feeling may be accompanied by frequent sneezing, which is due to the tickling sensation produced in the nasal cavities by the presence of a great quantity of the minute bubbles of ozone being set free from the decompositions of the remedy coming in contact with the infected surface.
In chronic cases, when the middle ear is affected, deafness may result from this disease, in which case ozonized vapor inhalations should follow immediately the cleansing of the nose and throat, and should be administered by means of Marchand’s Hand Atomizer and Ozonizer with a mixture made as follows
Hydrozone….1 tablespoonful. Water….1 tablespoonful. Pure glycerine….2 tablespoonfuls. Shake well and renew every three days.
When chronic catarrh of the nose is very tenacious and pai nful in addition to the above treatment, apply a few drops of glycozone to the nostrils. Sniff it gently as it will accelerate a cure and relieve the sensation of fullness in the nostrils. Glycozone relieves also the dryness of the mucous membrane which often accompanies chronic cases.
Sometimes intense itching of the nose is caused by an internal trouble which, according to Dr. Augagnem, a wellknown French dermatologist, may frequently be cured by the following:
SYRUP FOR REDNESS AND ITCHING OF THE SKIN
Phenic acid (crystals)….5 grammes. Pure glycerine….enough to dissolve. Syrup of orange peel….400 grammes. Dose for an adult, one teaspoonful twice daily.
This same prescription with the phenic acid diminished to three grammes is, according to Augagnem, excellent for pruritus or eczema in children.
Let my readers who are troubled with poor circulation and red noses try the following most successful and agreeable treatment. It consists of what the French call an aromatic bath, with massage after.
FOR AROMATIC BATH
Rosemary tops….1,000 grammes. Boiling water….10 quarts. Bicarbonate of soda….250 grammes.
Make an infusion of the leaves and boiling water; let stand half an hour ; strain ; add the soda, and pour all into the warm water prerarecl for the bath. This bath is a calmativo. It should 1J© taken warm.
A red nose is generally the sign of bad circulation or impure blood. It is frequently accompanied also by cold feet. In this case rubbing the feet for fifteen minutes before retiring will sometimes so stimulate the circulation that the redness disappears from the nose with the improved general condition of the subject. A very good lotion for the inflamed condition which is usually the accompaniment of a red nose is made of rose water mixed with 2 per cent. of its bulk of carbolic acid.
Shiny, oily noses may often be cured by bathing the entire face daily with a weak solution of soda water. Use common washing soda,–a bit about the size of a filbert to say a quart of warm water. The circulation is always at fault in these cases, and sensible women who have troublesome noses are asked to take plenty of fresh air and exercise and eschew all highly-spiced food. Use your scrubbing brushes on refractory noses. It will make them redder for a few days. but it will help in their cure finally.
FOR AN OILY NOSE
Sulphate of zinc….4 grains. Compound tincture of lavender….16 drops. Distilled water….2 ounces.
Use as a lotion. In some cases where the skin is excessively oily it is necessary to remove the oil from the cuticle. Where this is so, it is well to wipe the skin with a soft rag impregnated with benzine before using-the lotion.
FOR A SHINY NOSE
The remedy here given is often very successful.
Take one drachm of boraeic; acid and mix it with four ounces of rose water. Apply the lotion to your refractory nose as often as necessary.
I have received a letter from one of my correspondents, to which it is pertinent to refer. She says: ” I am a very good-looking woman-or should be-but about fifteen years ago, when I was a little girl of ten, I fell while skating and broke my nose ; it was not properly set, and it is now almost a deformity. I am assured it can be made straight, but I would like you to tell me honestly if you think it really can be made over into a nice nose.”
I certainly do, for I have seen the operation performed; but for all such operations you should carefully select an expert surgeon. Consult your family physician who will very likely tell you to let your nose alone–insist that it is not well enough until it is as straight as it can be made, and get him to tell you the name of the most skillful surgeon within your reach. Crooked noses can unquestionably he made straight, even after maturity; and in early childhood, owing to the soft nature of the cartilages that form the nostrils, the shape of the lower part of the nose may be much improved by gentle daily pressure. A beautiful nose is the greatest possible ornament to the face of a woman and so rare that it excites the admiration at once. Lavater, the physiognomist, declared that there were thousands of beautiful eyes to one handsome nose. It is a somewhat singular fact that only about three in every hundred noses are to be found where they belong-in the middle of the face; the ninety-seven will digress from the perpendicular line, whereas the bridge should form a straight line drawn exactly between the eyes, The Greek non, which is the most beautiful, is so rare that artists have frequently looked in vain for a Greek-nosed model.
I was crossing the ocean some years ago, and could not but remark the curious manner in which one of the passengers appeared to follow a lady acquaintance who sat near me at the table. The man was finally presented to me as Mr. Blank, a distinguished foreign painter. About forty seconds after he had been introduced to me, he said: “Madame, could you present me to your friend ? I have never seen such a nose on a woman’s face. I would give a year of my life for a model with such a nose. I have not been able to take my eyes from Madame’s face since she came on board the ship.” It was true, the lady did have a beautiful Greek nose, and the stranger’s peculiar manner arose from the ardor of the artist who had never before, he assured us, seen a perfect nose of Greek form. I presented the painter to the lady, and during the remainder of the voyage he amused us all by his evident adoration of the perfect nose. We cannot all have Greek noses, but the coming generation need none of them have pug noses or turned-ups. Daily care in childhood, pressing the pugnacious feature into shape, pulling it gently down, will lengthen and straighten it. A pug nose is amusing in a child or even piquant in a young girl, but a middleaged woman-an old woman with a pug or turned-up nose is far from attractive. Do not let us have any more of them.
Red veins which are seen frequently on the nose may be arrested by great abstemiousness and care not to expose the skin to sudden changes of temperature. I have never seen an actual cure of a well-defined case of telangiectasis, which is the technical name for red veins. Persons suffering from this disfiguring blemish should never touch alcohol in any form. To resort to the knife or to electricity is not only very dangerous, but, as I have said, so rarely successful; I know of no authentic case.
TO STOP BLEEDING FROM THE NOSE
This may be caused by violence, or may arise from an impoverished state of the blood. When it occurs in persons of middle age it is more serious, as it is then often a symptom of some other disease. The bleeding can generally be stopped by making the patient raise both his arms above his head, and hold them there for some time. Sponging, with cold or iced water, the forehead or face, or applying a towel wet with cold water between the shoulders, will in most cases succeed. The application of a strong solution of alum or iron-alum to the inside of the nostrils, or plugging the nostrils with lint or cotton wool soaked in the solution, may be necessary if the bleeding be profuse. The health of persons subject to these attacks should he improved by nutritious diet, animal food, with potatoes, water cresses, and fruit. The following prescription may be relied upon:
Tincture of steel….2 drachms. Dilute muriatic acid….1 drachm. Syrup of orange peel….1 ounce. Infusion of caluinba….7 ounces.
Mix. For a child, 1 tablespoonful in a wineglass of water before meals fur an adult tile dose may be increased.
Placing a small roll of paper or muslin above the front teeth, under the upper lip, and pressing hard on the same, will arrest bleeding from the nose by checking the passage of blood through the arteries leading to the nose.
Bleeding at the nose, when not caused by a blow or other violence, will usually cease of itself in a short time as it is frequently an effort of nature to relieve the con gested vessels. When it becomes persistent or is excessive, the simplest and most effective means of arresting it is to make a probe of a slender lead pencil or anything of like form, and introduce by this means a small bit of soft cotton previously dipped in a mild solution of alum, creosote, strong black tea or even cold water. Should this not succeed, a little of one of these liquids may be snuffed up the nostrils or a small piece of ice placed in the one from which the blood flows.
Dr. Negrier, a physician of Tangiers, discovered that in ordinary cases of nosebleed, raising the arm of the affected side will arrest the flow. It is well to try this method before resorting to any other treatment. Women of lymphatic temperament are subject sometimes to a periodical swelling of the nose which makes its appearance usually after eating or on coming into a warm room from out-of-doors on a cold day. Nothing is more destructive to a woman’s looks. Frequently the swelling is accompanied by intense itching, and the nose will appear to be in a highly inflamed condition. Without rhyme or reason the. inflammation will usually disappear as suddenly as it came. While it lasts it is annoying to an extreme degree. The quickest and safest remedy for such an affliction is a large dose of castor oil, and a warm soda bath, or a lotion composed of rose water mixed with two per cent. of its bulk of carbolic acid. To prevent a recurrence of the swelling, the strictest attention to the diet should be maintained. The patient should live on fruits, vegetables, and saline drinks, taking an abundance of out-of-door exercise.