Mild laryngitis, acute or chronic, requires no modification of diet. Appetite is often lessened, and food is voluntarily restricted to the simplest kinds.

Ulcerative laryngitis, such as occurs in tuberculous and syphilitic affections, causes much difficulty in swallowing. So painful is deglutition, that starvation may be preferred to the attempt to swallow, unless the pain can be relieved by local analgesics. Under these circumstances life must be maintained by rectal alimentation. So long as food can be swallowed, however, it should be taken by the mouth. An excellent analgesic application is a 10 or 15 per cent, emulsion of orthoform in almond oil, made with the aid of yolk of eggs. It should be given about ten minutes before feeding, to be held in the mouth and slowly swallowed, or, better, may be slowly injected in and around the larynx by means of a curved syringe under laryngoscopy guidance, and after preliminary cleansing of the parts by an alkaline sedative spray. Lozenges of orthoform in some soft vehicle may be used instead. Liquids and the softest foods are the most easily taken. The diet must finally consist exclusively of milk, gruels, broths, purees, eggs, soft custard, ice-cream, and weak tea and coffee. Of solids or semisolids that may be eaten during the earlier part of the illness, jellies, milk-toast, bread and milk, scraped beef, oysters, and similar dishes are the best. Sometimes, even to the last, semisolids such as custards and jellies, or a raw egg bolted whole, can be taken with less pain than is caused by liquids.

Some patients find it possible to swallow with least discomfort if they lean forward or even lie face downward, with the head hanging over the edge of the bed. In this position liquids can be sucked into the mouth through a glass tube and the inflamed and irritated larynx is least likely to be touched by food or moved in the act of deglutition. Feeding through an esophageal tube introduced either through the nose or the mouth is sometimes the best method. In such cases the preliminary use of a local analgesic, such as cocain, holocain, eucain, etc., is often necessary.