Scalp

Scalp, the term employed to designate the outer covering of the skull or brain-case. Except in the fact that hair in both sexes grows more luxuriantly on the scalp than elsewhere, the skin of the scalp differs so slightly from ordinary Skin (q.v.) that it is unnecessary to enter into any details on this point. But besides the skin the scalp is composed of the expanded tendon of the occipito-frontalis muscle, and of intermediate cellular tissue and blood-vessels. Injuries of the scalp, however slight, must be watched with great caution, for they may be followed by erysipelas, or by inflammation and suppuration under the occipito-frontal muscle, or within the cranium, or by suppuration of the veins of the cranial bones, and general pyæmia that may easily prove fatal. If dressed antiseptically at an early stage the risk of such accidents is of course greatly diminished. In the treatment of a wound of this region no part of the scalp, however injured it may be, should be cut or torn away; and, if possible, the use of stitches should be avoided, as plasters and bandages will generally suffice to keep the separated parts in apposition. The patient should be confined to the house (and in severe cases to bed), should be moderately purged, and fed upon non-stimulating but not too low diet. Burns of the scalp are very liable to be followed by erysipelas and diffuse inflammation, but the brain is comparatively seldom affected in these cases. Tumours of the scalp are not uncommon, the most frequent being the cutaneous cysts popularly known as Wens (q.v.), and vascular tumours. See HAIR; and for diseases of the scalp, see BALDNESS, and other references given at HAIR.