Elderly

Dermatological examination is never complete without a careful evaluation of the nails. The elderly, who constitute a significant proportion of the present day society, show various age-related changes and disorders affecting their nail. This is generally due to susceptibility of the aging nail to fungal infections and impaired circulation. Concurrent dermatological or systemic diseases, and related treatments and faulty biomechanics also play a crucial role.[1] Age associated disorders include brittle, dull and lusterless nails, onychorrhexis, onychodystrophy, longitudinal ridging, melanonychia, platyonychia, sub-ungual hyperkeratosis, transverse ridging, pitting, onycholysis, longitudinal splitting, onychomycosis and koilonychia This study has been undertaken for nail disorders and nail changes in the elderly because of the scarcity of such studies in our country.

The present study was conducted to evaluate the role of Majoon Falasfa in health promotion of elderly. A randomized single-blind placebo controlled trial was carried out on 30 patients at National Institute of Unani Medicine Bangalore. After obtaining ethical clearance, 30 eligible patients were randomly assigned into test and control groups. Test group was  administered with 10 gm  of Majoon  Falasfa  orally in the morning  and  same  dose  in the evening for two months while control  group was given placebo for the same period of time as that of test drug. Written informed consent was sought from every subject before inclusion in the study. Present study was completed within a period of one year. Response was measured by the assessment of Haemoglobin%, Physical activity score, Appetite score, Weight, Dementia score and Grip strength score. Patients were called for follow up on every 15th day. The results were statistically analyzed by applying Student’s ‘t’ test, two tailed dependent for intra group comparison and two tailed independent for intergroup comparison. Test group showed strongly significant increase in Weight (p