De Medicina

Celsus, Aulus Cornelius

Celsus, Aulus Cornelius. De Medicina. Spencer, Walter George, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University; London, England: W. Heinemann Ltd, 1935-1938.

10 As for the polypus which grows in the nostrils, I have already laid down elsewhere that the best treatment is with the knife. Therefore this too should be loosened from the bone by a sharp instru

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ment, shaped like a spear head, care being taken not to injure the cartilage under it, which is difficult to treat. When detached it is to be extracted by an iron hook; then the nostril is gently filled with lint folded or in a roll, soaked in something to stop the bleeding; when the bleeding has stopped, the ulceration is to be cleaned with a lint plug. When it is clean, insert a quill (as described above in the case of the ear), smeared with the medicament which causes a scar to form until healing is completed.

11 Now as to the lesion called by the Greeks ozaena, I have found nothing in the writings of great surgeons about surgical treatment if it did not yield to medicaments. I believe this is because it seldom heals quite completely, though the treatment its involves considerable pain. Some, however, lay down that either an earthenware tube, or a smooth quill, is to be inserted into the nostril until it reaches the bone, and then a fine cautery point is passed down that tube right to the bone. The cauterized spot is afterwards dressed with verdigris and honey, and when clean is healed by applying lycium. Or the nostril may be laid open from its base as far as the bone, so that the place can be seen, and the cautery more easily applied; then the nostril must be sewn up, and the cauterized ulceration treated as above; the fine suture is dressed with litharge or other agglutinant.