A system of practical medicine. By American authors. Vol. 4

by Unknown

Tubercular syphiloderm is to be differentiated from lupus vulgaris, leprosy, and cancer—especially the first, to which it at times bears a close resemblance. In syphilis the lesions are firmer and deeper, and form more rapidly, than in lupus; moreover, the disease is usually one of adult life and middle age, whereas lupus appears, as a rule, first in childhood.

SYPHILODERMA GUMMATOSUM (syn., gummatous syphilide, syphilis cutanea gummatosa) consists in the formation of a rounded or flat, slightly raised, moderately firm, more or less circumscribed tumor, having its seat in the subcutaneous tissue, which later shows a tendency to break down. As a rule, only one or two tumors are present. The growth is variously known as a gumma, gummy tumor, and syphiloma. The lesion, which is usually a late manifestation, begins as a small, pea-sized deposit beneath the skin, which gradually increases in size; the overlying skin, which is at first of a natural color, becoming pinkish or reddish. It may eventually attain the size of a walnut or may be even larger. It is firm or soft and doughy to the touch, is usually painless, and tends to break down, disappearing by absorption or ulceration, the ulcer being usually deep with perpendicular edges. It is to be distinguished from furuncle, abscess, and fatty and fibrous tumors. In most cases other symptoms of syphilis are present.

SYPHILODERMA BULLOSUM (syn., bullous syphilide, syphilis cutanea bullosa, pemphigus syphiliticus) appears in the form of discrete, disseminated, rounded or ovalish blebs, varying in size from a pea to a walnut, and containing a serous fluid which rapidly becomes cloudy or thick. In some cases the process is distinctly pustular from the beginning. The blebs, which are, as a rule, partially or fully distended, after a variable time dry to crusts of a yellowish-brown or dark-greenish color, which may be thick and raised or conical and stratified, the latter constituting rupia, as in the case of the large, flat pustular syphiloderm. They are easily removed, and cover erosions or ulcers which secrete a greenish-yellow fluid. It is a rare manifestation, occurring late, is variable in its course, and is seen usually in broken-down individuals. It is not infrequent in hereditary syphilis in the new-born.⁷

⁷ For the cutaneous manifestations of hereditary syphilis see article by J. William White on that subject in Vol. II. p. 254.

ANATOMY.—Anatomically, the syphilitic deposit consists of a round-cell infiltration. It is most typically shown in the papule and tubercle; in the macule there is hyperæmia, with beginning tissue-cell proliferation, but the specific cell-infiltration is not distinguishable. The process usually involves the mucous layer of the epidermis, the corium, and, in the deep lesions, the subcutaneous connective tissue. The extent and depth of the infiltration depend upon the size and form of the growth.

TREATMENT.—Cutaneous syphilis, as in the case of all other manifestations of this disease, requires constitutional treatment, and generally local medication also. In order that relapses may in a great measure be obviated, prolonged treatment by appropriate remedies is essential. Even with such management and under the best circumstances relapses will frequently occur. The advantage of temperate and regular living and hygienic influences in promoting a disappearance of the manifestations and keeping the disease in abeyance cannot be too strongly urged. In syphilitic subjects anæmia, dyspepsia, malaria, or any similar condition is apt to render the syphilis more violent, and, if present, should receive appropriate treatment. Ill health from any cause predisposes to a relapse.

The remedies which, in a sense, may be considered to exert a specific action in syphilis are mercury and potassium iodide. They are indispensable in the treatment of the disease. Both are important, although the former is the more valuable. As a rule, mercury is the remedy to be given in the first stages of the disease, and the cases are exceptional in which its use is not permissible. In such instances potassium iodide is to be prescribed. As the later stages of the disease approach the iodide of potassium becomes relatively more important. Even in the late syphilodermata, however, mercury in small doses holds a prominent place in the treatment, as it seems to possess a greater influence in preventing relapses. In the administration of mercury salivation is to be carefully guarded against, as its occurrence is detrimental to the health of the patient, and indirectly as well as directly it exerts an unfavorable influence on the course of the disease. Beyond slight tenderness of the gums its action should never be pushed.

There are several methods of administering mercury, but that by the mouth is for many reasons the best. For this purpose various preparations, such as blue mass, calomel, corrosive sublimate, the protiodide and biniodide, as well as other mercurials, are used. In the average case the protiodide is one of the best, and is probably in most general use. It is given in pill form in the dose of one-fourth or one-half a grain three times daily. If gastric or intestinal disturbance, such as pain and diarrhoea, is produced by its use, as is occasionally the case with this and all other preparations of mercury, a small proportion of opium may be added to each pill. Blue mass is an important mercurial in the early syphilodermata, and is given in doses of two or three grains three times daily. For bringing the system rapidly under the influence of the mineral, an important consideration in some cases, calomel in doses of one or two grains combined with opium, three or four times a day, is the most active. Corrosive sublimate is slow in its action, but is usually well borne and shows but slight disposition to salivate. The dose is one-twenty-fourth to one-eighth of a grain in pill or solution three times daily. It is rarely employed in early syphilis, but is a useful mercurial for long-continued administration, and also in the later stages of the disease.

Inunction is another method of introducing mercury into the system, and is especially useful in treating the disease in the infant. For this purpose two preparations are used—blue ointment and oleate of mercury. The latter, 5 to 20 per cent. strength, has lately been somewhat extensively employed, but it is not comparable in value for this purpose to the blue ointment. The sole advantage of the oleate is its light color. The blue ointment may always be prescribed with confidence as to its effect; the same cannot be said of the oleate. Various regions are selected for the inunctions—the arms, axillæ, thighs, abdomen, chest, and back being taken in turn, so as to obviate as far as possible local irritation. About a drachm of the blue ointment suffices for an inunction. For infants the preparation should be weakened. By means of inunctions the system may rapidly be brought under the influence of the remedy.