A lecture delivered to the Hairdressers' Guild, in St. James's Hall, March, 1885, on diseases of the skin of the head affecting the hair, and diseases of the hair : with remarks as to brushing, cutting and dressing the hair / by James Startin.

  • Startin, James, 1851-1910.
Date:
[1885]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture delivered to the Hairdressers' Guild, in St. James's Hall, March, 1885, on diseases of the skin of the head affecting the hair, and diseases of the hair : with remarks as to brushing, cutting and dressing the hair / by James Startin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    6/15 (page 8)
    Psoriasis Capitis. Psoriasis being one of the commone-t affections of the skin in England, also in its course affecting the scalp. In character, it is much like the preceding eruption. But the disease occurs in patches of dense scales, rather larger than those of Polyriasis, and more obstinate to treatment. It is collected together in ridges, and groups around the roots of the hair ; whilst scattered amongst the hair itself are flakes of cuticle, often in great quantity, hindering and stopping its growth. The next three eruptions that I shall refer to, viz.. Lupus, Cancer, and Syphilis of the scalp, I shall but briefly allude too, as these terrible diseases, if they occur upon the scalp, completely denude the skin of its hair in patches, never to return again. Fortunately, these diseases are rare, Avith the exception of the latter, which in diseases of the hair under the class of Alopecia, I shall have something to say to you about. We now come to a disease of the skin, to be seen generally in the situations of the beard and moustache of the male, called Sycosi-9, from the Greek gvkov, a fig, the pulp of which it resembles. Sycosis is usually seen as an inflammatory pustular disease, invading the skin and ha r follicles of the upper lip and chin. It is a very disfiguring disease, and may occur alike to the rich or poor. I will describe shortly hoAv it invades the hair, also the character of the parasite, its cause in most instances. As you perceive, it is a disease peculiar to adult life, and it is contagious and very prejudicial to good looks. It may also exist as a development of thin white scales, difficult to detach, and situated on a reddish ground, amongst the roots of the hair. In its pustular form, the spots are seen from the size of a mustard seed to that of a pea, and may be confined to one portion of the face, as on the upper lip, or disseminated very generally all over the hairy parts of the face, causing great disfigui'eraent. 1 have included Warty growths in my classification, as I so often see cases of the kind that seriously incommode the growth of the hair. They are generally regarded as hypertrophies or thickening of the papillaa of the skin. That particular kind that affects the scalp increasing rapidly in numbers, and seriously hindering the proper dressing of tbe hair. Sometimes they form a fringe-like process, scarcely raised above the level of the scalp. Sehorrhcea Capitis, or augmented secretion of sebaceous matter on the skin of the scalp, which the late Sir Erasmus Wilson described as stearrhoea. It forms one of the commonest varieties of scurf; it shows itself as small yellowish crusts or plates. The skin beneath being inflamed, thickened, and the sebaceous glands (which as you know upon the scalp are very numerous) are hy- pertrophied, These thin plates are made of sebaceous and epithetial matter, the epithetial cells of the sebum being loaded with fat, intermingled with free grannule&and cholosterine, i^omc-