Atlas of diseases of the skin : including an epitome of pathology and treatment / by Franz Mraček ; authorized translation from the German ; edited by Henry W. Stelwagon.

  • Mraček, Franz, 1848-1908.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Atlas of diseases of the skin : including an epitome of pathology and treatment / by Franz Mraček ; authorized translation from the German ; edited by Henry W. Stelwagon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    cachectic, tubercular, and anemic subjects. Subjective symptoms of prickling and slight itching of the skin sometimes may precede the sweating. Increase in sweat-secretion of certain regions of the body, as the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet (hypericlrosis palmarum et plantarum), is to the individual thus afflicted of considerable importance. It is common in anemic subjects, whose hands and feet are cyanotic, owing to stasis, and who complain of sensations of cold in the extremities. This excessive sweating may exist for many years without any change whatever taking place in the skin. In rare instances vesicles sometimes may form on the fingers, more frequently on the toes; these rupture and lead to excoriations of the epidermis [dysidrosis, pompholyx ?—Ed.J. The epidermis between the toes is frequently macerated and peels off; painful excoriations and fissures occur, which may give rise to troublesome inflammation, and exceptionally to the formation of pus. Dysidrosis, pompholyx, or cheiropompholyx [Hutchinson] occurs on the palms of the hands, on the sides of the fingers, and on the soles of the feet, owing, it has been believed, to retention of sweat. Vesicles and blebs, from the size of a pin's head to that of a pea, or larger, develop ; their contents are perfectly clear at first, though they become turbid later on. The inflammatory symptoms, redness and slight or marked swelling of the epidermis, complete the picture of this disease. The affec- tion disappears after the vesicles have ruptured spontane- ously or have been ruptured by macerating treatment or accidentally. As the disease, however, relatively often attacks individuals who suffer from sweating feet, its recurrence is not uncommon (Plate 1). Treatment.—In universal as well as local hyperidrosis it js of great importance to consider the possible under- lying cause or causes (tuberculosis, anemia, etc.). Of internal remedies which have the power of influencing excessive secretion of sweat, we mention especially atropin and agaricin.