The age-herald., 1901-01-08
SKETCHES FROM
 EVERYDAY LIFE

The subject of skin grating has always interested me-" said a prominent young physician, and I was very much amused at the outcome of recent case Two sisters, both of whom had children, were next door neighbors. One of them had but two chill dren, one of whom was delicate. but the other sister was blessed with five healthy offspring. The well child of the former had the misfortune to be severely burned. and to save her it was necessary to do a good. deal of skin glrafting. The new skin tho doctors said had to be taken from healthy young children so the other sister offered her five children, each of whom eonrrIpe., 0l flesh towards the'r cousins recovery The latter got well and at would seem that the best of good will should have existed between the two families. In addition to having flesh in com- mon the two families jointly owned a COW. It seemed more difficult matter to jointly own the latter, so after several quarrels about the division of uhe spells one of the sisters bought the others interest, and be- came sole owner The second sister then bought her a COW, but she let 1t graze on a lot owned by the first sister, which caused another row, and the institution of injunction proceedings by the latter to have it stopped. This so angered sister number one that she brought trover suit to reoov- CT the skin which her five children con- tributed to their cousin. and for dama ges for their pain and suffering in having it removed. Here the matter rests for the present, but If the court should order the skin to be returned to the five children they would probably be inclined to bring anoth- CT suit for the pain and suffering they would undergo to have it replaced. shyiock is not in it with sister number one"
 
 "In grating skin," he continued, some physicians prefer to take the quantity of skin desired in one piece from some part of the body, while others take several smaller patches from different parts I had case recently where I took piece of skin from the thigh large enough to cover the palm of the hand. The patient was a girl about 19 years old. As child, her right hand had been badly burned. The extensor tendons on the back of the hand seemed paralized and the ieshy part of the palm of the hand was completely burned away. The fexor tendons, however, Were not de- stroyed and the hand was drawn up tight and she was unable to open 1t. To make matters worse, a few weeks after the &C., cident an abcess formed in the hand which in course of time turned into tumor It was not till then that I was consulted. I had to remove all the scar tissue, and to strengthen the fingers it was necessary to perform the operation of tenotomy This consisted simply in splitting the fexor ten- dons longitudinally and cutting out por- tion so as to weaken them. piece of skin large enough to cover the palm of the hand was then sewed on just as you would patch a glove This grew successfully and also the scar on the thigh from which the skin was taken healed up, and was covered with new growth of skin.
 
 "If there are any women who have scars on their faces" he confined, which they wish to get rid of they should go to Vienna. Vienna is the center of progress and learn ing in the medical world just as New York is the financial center and Paris the center of all devilment There is physician there who alone knows a process of removing scars. I mean by this a scar of any req sonable size. I first learned of him through an American woman who was stung on the cheek by tarantula or some insect while in Pullman car. She had a terrible time and consulted several American sur geons, one of whom finally cut her cheek open and extracted the insects sting This left a scar which no amount of salve or face lotions could remove. The girl was exceedingly pretty and very much dis tressed at being disfgured. While tray cling abroad summer physician in London told her that there was a man in Vienna who could remove the scar, but that It would be expensive and would require months treatment. She thought it was worth this to get rid of her scar, so she went to Vienna The treatment consisted in rubbing her face every day for an hour with some secret preparation which made the skin very soft and elastic. At the end of the month the skin was so elastic that the physician gathered up in knot all the skin that was scared tied a string tightly around it so as to separate it from the rest of the cheek and cut it off. This last scar was a. little round place that healed over so completely that very close inspection was necessary to detect any scar at all. The girl never missed the scared skin which was cut off, and one side of her face is now as pretty as the other."