On the local effects of crude paraffin / by Alex. Ogston.

  • Ogston, Alexander, 1844-1929.
Date:
[1871]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the local effects of crude paraffin / by Alex. Ogston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    2 the following are the leading peculiarities of the eruption :—The bright red nodules, hard to the touch, tender on pressure, varying little in size, which is about equal to that of a grain of barley, are of a rounded form, and consist each of a single hair-follicle with the parts immediately surrounding it, which are inflamed, indurated, and reddened. The hair emerges from the very summit of the nodule, and the orifice of the hair-follicle is much enlarged and easily visible to the naked eye as an aperture of a magnitude similar to that of a pin-hole in a card. The dilatation extends to the deeper part of the follicle, which forms the kernel of the inflamed knot, the retention of its contents evidently contributing to the in¬ flammatory induration around. The gaping mouth of the follicle exhibits masses of cast-off epithelial scales, dry and friable instead of greasy and tenacious; the nodule has little of the tendency to run on to suppuration observable in an ordinary comedo, and its contents cannot be squeezed out. On the contrary, the redness and indura¬ tion, after remaining for some little time, gradually diminish, and fi¬ nally disappear, leaving the hair-follicle enlarged, and its mouth gap¬ ing so as to exhibit the retained epithelial masses, these latter being rendered more distinct by continued retention and accumulation of dirt. In fact, the acute form of the eruption consists of successive crops of these nodules, which are thus at the same time seen in all stages of their growth, full development, and subsidence ; while the skin between them, studded with the black gaping mouths of such follicles as have already passed through or are about to undergo the * process, retains, contrary to what is observed in the chronic form of the malady, its natural pliancy and elasticity. In all paraffin-workers patency and enlargement of the hair-folli¬ cles continue to some extent so long as they are engaged in this manufacture, and the black dots in the skin of their hands and face strike the eye of the observer at once; men with dark complexions and strong hair being especially deformed in this way, while fair complexions and light or reddish hair escape comparatively un¬ affected. A few exceptional individuals, with swarthy complexions and hairy skins, suffer so much from an exaggerated patency of the follicles that they are compelled to quit their occupation and seek a more suitable calling. When the disease assumes this chronic form it exhibits the following characteristics :—The backs of the feet and toes, the dorsum of the hand, and the backs of the fingers between, but not over, the joints, exhibit a peculiar honeycombed appearance of the skin, which is elevated, thickened, and inelastic, so as to prevent or render difficult and painful the flexion of the fingers and hand. These elevated honeycombed patches are of natural colour, and not inflamed (except where an isolated papule exhibits the appearance described under the acute form), but consist of densely-grouped arrays of hair-follicles, with the indurated cutis between and around them, the follicles packed with dry brittle