Whitlow Ointment

[granny grump]

As a child - many years ago - I was prone to sties. Mum used to treat it with an ointment in a small tube that would 'draw out' the infection. I cant for the life of me remember the name nor the name of the cream that came in a small tin and we would rub it on chapped hands in winter

Any ideas?

We had Golden eye ointment for sties Zambuk which according to the script on the tin was used “for cuts, bruises, scratches, burns, scalds, athlete's foot, piles, ulcers, eczema, sores, sprains, pimples, chilblains, cold sores, chafed skin and insect bites; Fiery Jack for Muscular Pain And Stiffness; Germolene for minor cuts and grazes, minor burns and scalds and blisters, sore or rough skin, wash-day hands,

[calmck]

Definitely NOT for sties but magnesium sulphate ointment to “draw” splinters etc. Available in small tubs from large Boots. Or kaolin poultice but again NOT for sties

[granny grump]

Thank you calmck - the post should have read 'prone to whitlows' and the cream was an old fashioned one which I assume is no longer available. I know that magnesium sulphate would do the job now I was just trying to remember the name of this cream - for old times sake

[theprof]

Well, I've got a couple of suggestions that may fit the bill. The first is an ointment called Prid that was marketed for just this purpose. The other I recall was Burgess Lion Ointment that served a similar purpose.
Years ago, the most popular drawing ointments contained ammonium bituminosulphonate, a peculiar chemical more popularly known as ichthammol. It was derived from the distillation of oil shale and because of this, it was also called black ointment. It wa black in colour though and I'm sure you'd have told us if this was the case.
You mention both a tube and a tin in your question. Was the stuff sold in both? It may help to pinpoint it further if my suggestions above are wrong.

[Tilly2]

My mum slapped Lion Ointment on any and everything. :-)

[Sqad]

the prof.......Ichthammol was very popular in the 50's and 60's incorporated into a paste and then applied to bandages for use with resistant varicose and decubitus ulcers. Black , messy, had to be kept on for a week without being disturbed, messed up all the sheets and was called ....Ichthapaste.

[theprof]

Yes, you're absolutely right Sqad. I do recall zinc paste and ichthammol bandage BP and also Unguentum Ichthammolis, in the days when pharmaceutical Latin was the norm ( I still tease the medical students I sometimes teach by asking them if they have any idea what Mist. Belladonna or Pulv. Boric Acid are). I think it was marketed as Icthaband and was still in the BP in the early nineties. As you say, it was messy stuff.
Ichthammol ointment or paste is still available in the UK but it's more popular in the states where Walmart etc sell it under the equivalent of our GSL for removing splinters, ingrowing toenail treatment, insect stings and as a remedy for contact with poison ivy. It's sometimes sold as "Black Drawing Salve" too. Bearing in mind it contains wool fat and yellow soft paraffin, the possibility of an allergic reaction must be taken into account nowadays. This was virtually unknown years ago.

[Sqad]

Prof......you are quite correct, all romance has gone out of medicine and it is becoming , not an exact, but almost an exact science......pity really, as one's teachers were characters who made Medicine a living science.
One of my teachers said, just let the patient talk and in 90% of the time they will give you the diagnosis, physical examination will only be useful in the last 10%.
How true.

[tonyav]

Years ago, the most popular drawing ointments contained ammonium bituminosulphonate, a peculiar chemical more popularly known as ichthammol. It was derived from the distillation of oil shale and because of this, it was also called black ointment.

Was called Black Jack when I was a kid in my neck of the woods.

[theprof]

Yes indeed tonyav. There have been many local names for ichthammol ointment or paste, some of which I dare not repeat here on AB as they are no longer PC.

[sanmac]

Remember soap-suds enemas and also sitz baths?

[sanmac]

And oatmeal poultices.

[granny grump]

I'm sure it was a tube the prof - I can see mum squeezing the tube into the corner of the nail and my finger. I think it was a yellow colour I don't remember it being black Thank you all for your input I will have to sit quietly and think on

[Peter Pedant]

// One teacher said, let the patient talk and in 90% of the time they will give you the diagnosis, physical examination will only be useful in the last 10%. //
How true. how true
Sir James Paget - 19th century
I often wondered how paeds did their job as their sick little patients cdnt tell awlty'hat was wrong

someone told me that they advised for 'Casualty'and I said O you should have a scene with a sick child and everyone rushing for the door screaming - I am busy, I have an appointment, I am off duty ....
leaving themost junior and the junior pro alone with the parent and child ....
and my nephew said - it is still like that you know ....