Diseases of the skin : their description, pathology, diagnosis, and treatment / by H. Radcliffe Crocker.

  • Crocker, H. Radcliffe (Henry Radcliffe), 1845-1909.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of the skin : their description, pathology, diagnosis, and treatment / by H. Radcliffe Crocker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    138/786 (page 102)
    It is common to see qualifying terms for eczema, simply in- dicative of their locality, such as eczema capitis, eczema genitalium, eczema palmare, etc. They are for the most part simply convenient to express briefly the limitation of the eruption, but at the same time the clinical features are often modified by the locality. Some of these modifications will be specially referred to. In eczema capitis et faciei, the inflam- mation is much more liable to take on a pustular form, and the secretion drying, and entangling in the hair, forms thick crusts of a dirty greenish-black hue, often with a foul odour. Eczema capitis et faciei, probably from its external position, is often very obstinate, being the last part to get well, and showing a great tendency to recur, even without apparent provocation. Eczema genitalium, eczema of the scrotum and vulva, often begins as in E. erythematosum, and is often limited, in the case of the scrotum, to the lateral surface, on account of the natural heat and moisture aggravating the inflammation; and the pruritus is so intolerable, that the patients lacerate themselves severely in seeking momentary relief by scratching, and much secondary thickening of the parts may thus be induced ; owing also to the moisture, scales and crusts do not adhere to any extent. E. Palmare. Eczema of the palms and soles is so modified by the thickened epidermis of those parts that it is often called psoriasis palmae. Vesicles are seldom formed, but there is great irre- gular thickening of the epidermis, and the constant motion and loss of flexibility leads to its splitting and forming fissures, chiefly in the line of motion, which penetrate to the corium, and every movement is most painful, so that the patient is quite disabled from manual employment. This is the E. rimosum of McCall Anderson. The inflammation seldom begins in the centre of the palm ; usually it starts at the root of the thumb or wrist, and gets into the palm subsequently. Longitudinal fissures often occur at the tips of the fingers and thumbs. The nails may also be involved; they become discoloured, of a dirtyish yellow hue, are pitted, furrowed, thickened or thinned, split both vertically and into lamellae, and produce great disfigurement. When, vesicles do occur on the sides of the fingers or palms, where the skin is thick, they often do not rupture spontaneously, but remain as small, transparent, dark spots, not raised above the