Observations on the various forms of superficial dermatitis : particularly erythema, eczema, psoriasis, lichen, and pityriasis rubra with cases / by P.H. Pye-Smith.

  • Pye-Smith, Philip Henry, 1840-1914.
Date:
[1881?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the various forms of superficial dermatitis : particularly erythema, eczema, psoriasis, lichen, and pityriasis rubra with cases / by P.H. Pye-Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    should be called Pityriasis rubra. Other good observers, how- ever, consider it and her daughter's disease to be unusually severe and general psoriasis. The pathology of the two is cer- tainly the same. In the mother's case there was no appear- ance of the disease until she was nearly forty. A scaly eruption then appeared on both forearms, and this gradually but quickly spread until it covered the whole of the body. At the present time there is not a sound spot anywhere. Scalp and face, palms and soles, every region is affected. The nails are brittle and deformed. There is not, and never has been, any exudation. The scales are generally numerous, small, loose, and not li pearly in appearance. On the whole, they are not so thick as in her daughter. The face is almost free, being only red, smooth, and somewhat brawny, and the hands are in a similar state. Only on the limbs are the scales thickly massed, most so on the elbows, knees, and shins, but the distribution is much less regular than in ordinary cases of psoriasis. There are no patches or rings. The hair and teeth are fairly good. The tongue is clean and free from disease, the urine not albuminous. There is a great deal of irritation, the itching being sometimes intolerable. The patient is thin and weak, and there is slight pyrexia, but she eats well. There is chronic ophthalmia with great photophobia. Since the disease became universal it has never disappeared, but the condition of the skin is generally worse in the autumn. Ointments suit it best, especially vaseline. Arsenic she has found does her no good. She has several children beside the one whose case has just been given, but no others of them have any affection of the skin. Her father's family were also free from any disease. Her mother, however, was subject to what she believes was the same disease—a general dry redness and scaliness of the skin—as long as she can remember. This, the only person affected in that generation of the family, died aged forty-eight. In the preceding generation the father (grand- father of Sophia and great grandfather of Ellen P—) was the subject of “the same complaint. He died an old man. Further back the family traditions do not go. These two cases have considerable resemblance to Dr. Fagge's of acute general psoriasis proving fatal in a boy indeed, the model of the face of that patient in our museum (No. 251)