Originally Posted by
davewerden
During those early years I could go to a pharmacy and get some sliver nitrate sticks (I think I got the name right). They were like a long matchstick, with the chemical tip at one end. I would press the tip right on the sore and hold it there for 10 seconds or so. It hurt like everything! It was cauterizing the sore, essentially. It would then clear up within a couple days. Without that, it could persist for one or two weeks. Unfortunately, by a few years later those sticks were taken off the market - too dangerous for the public, I guess.
This reminds me of an incident at a dentist when I was about 12 years old. The guy was not the greatest dentist in the world, but I had this severe canker sore on this particular visit and he said "I can fix that," produced one of the sticks you describe, and fixed it pretty much instantly. He then explained that the substance was silver nitrate. The Mayo Clinic web site mentions this cautary approach as well on its site (though suggests that it's not particularly effective!).
I just checked, and you can in fact still get the stuff -- even (of course?) on Amazon. And the sticks are available from several different medical or veterinary supply places such as https://www.mountainside-medical.com...icators-sticks.
Given the descriptions of how the cautery works, I'm thinking I might want some of these around. Or the next time I have a sore (luckily not often), I might try a styptic pencil and see if that works (though from what I see, the silver nitrate appears -- at least anecdotally -- to be more effective).
Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)