High Frequency Apparatus Page 8

8 HIGH FREQUENCY APPARATUS plied through a glass electrode from which the air has been exhausted, the current stimulates the circulation of the blood, bringing it to the surface and increasing nutrition. Persistent application of the vacuum electrode to the scalp at certain intervals will restore the original color to grey hair. On the scalp of a partially bald patient, repeated applications will promote the growth of new hair if the roots have not been totally destroyed. Placing the patient in a chair having a metallic plate beneath its seat and behind the back, the physician may administer the high frequency current in the form of treatment known as auto condensation and thereby reduce the blood pressure in cases of arteriosclerosis. The same treatment is being successfully used in the reduction of superfluous flesh. The general effect on the patient is a tonic one and in practically every case reported, the patient has been brightened up, given added vigor and cheerfulness, and, in fact, has exhibited all of the favorable effects of a powerful tonic without sustaining any of the unfavorable after effects of a stimulant. While on the subject of the medical application of the high frequency current, it may be well to point out the fact that while no ill effects are likely to be experienced from the treatment in the hands of an unskilled operator, continued applications intended to produce a medicinal effect upon the body should certainly not be given by the layman without first having had the advice of a physician. The two primary modes of treatment, i. e., the vacuum electrode and the auto condensation, produce diametrically opposite effects. The electrode treatment tends to increase the blood pressure while the auto condensation tends to reduce it. It is obvious, therefore, that the auto condensation should never be applied except in cases where normal