Warm-e-Lauztain (Tonsillitis): Diagnosis and Management with reference to Unani System of Medicine

Warm-e-Lauztain (Tonsillitis) being very common clinical condition affecting mostly the school going children is the one of the important reason to visit a doctor frequently. Diagnostic features and findings on clinical examination are described very clearly in classical texts of Unani medicine, e.g.  if the tonsillitis is caused due to abnormality of khilt-e-dam (humour sanguine), it is expressed by severe pain in the throat, fever, redness of eyes and face, sweetish taste in mouth etc.; if it is due to khilt-e-safra (humour bile), then it is characterized by severe pain in the throat, difficulty in the swelling, high grade fever, dryness, paleness of face; if there is imbalance in khilt-e-balgham (humour phlegm), there will be soft whitish swollen tonsils associated with paresis and softness of the tongue; tonsillitis due to the abnormality in khilt-e-sauda (humour black bile) exhibit hard swelling of tonsils encroached into the tongue and surrounding tissues. On examination, if there is much congestion and redness on the tonsils or it is black in colure and hard in consistency then surgical procedure should be avoided. Always first emphasis should be given for medical treatment, if it fails then opt surgical management. When the acute inflammation (warm-e-haar) has been subsided and the base of swelling is soft and thin, than it is suitable time for tonsillectomy. Surgical procedure is also described by Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi and others in detail. Therefore it may be concluded that scholars of Unani medicine were much aware about the signs & symptoms of chronic tonsillitis; they were able to diagnose the disease clinically and were expert enough to assess the condition, whether requiring medical management or surgical intervention. Surgeons of that time knew clear-cut indications and contraindications for surgical intervention along with the procedure of tonsillectomy Keywords: Warm-e-lauztain, Tonsillitis, Unani classical, Treatment, surgery