Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Introduction
- 1 The Case of Black Sweat
- 2 A Case of Hives That Wouldn't Go Away
- 3 The Painful Bath
- 4 A Shower of Hives
- 5 A Premenstrual Rash
- 6 Uncombable Hair
- 7 The Man Who Couldn't Sweat
- 8 Scratch Blisters
- 9 Skin Deep Photography
- 10 The Bug That Never Was
- 11 Blue Spots
- 12 White Spots
- 13 Same Place, Next Time Rash
- 14 The Brown Spots That Wouldn't Go Away
- 15 The Case of the Painful Fingertips
- 16 A Strange Sunburn
- 17 A Multiple Personality Dermatitis
- 18 Accidental Hives
- 19 Rotten Fish Odor
- 20 Hormone Blisters
- 21 Flower Shop Itch
- 22 “Stress and a Penny” Hives
- 23 The Case of Unilateral Wrinkles
- 24 Fiery Red Legs
- 25 Painful Feet
- 26 Hot Flashes and Cold Cream
- 27 The Blisters and the Skin Test
- 28 A Chilling Pain
- 29 Rough Skin and Sore Throats
- 30 The Premenstrual Purple Chin
- 31 Nine Year Hives
- 32 Golf Course Dermatitis
- 33 The Secret Message
- 34 Herpes Gladiatorum
- 35 Sunshine Allergy
- 36 L'homme Rouge
- 37 Rings of Rash
- 38 The Breasts That Never Stopped Growing
- 39 The Minister's Hives
- 40 Hardened Skin
- 41 Battery Blisters
- 42 Swollen Lips
- 43 The Worm from Outer Space
- 44 A New Light on Psoriasis
- 45 Black and Blue Spots
- 46 The Emergency Room Itch
- 47 The Sleeper
- 48 A Crazy Rash
- 49 Bald Spots
- 50 The Dog Died
- 51 The Abacus Tumor
- 52 No Spit
- 53 The Smell of Burnt Toast
- 54 The Twenty-Three Year Itch
- 55 The Mysterious Treatment
- 56 The Creeping Acne Cyst
- 57 Our First Case
- 58 A Strange Case of Acne
- 59 The Case of the Glass Eye
- 60 The Hand Eczema Caper
- 61 The Sore That Would Never Heal
- 62 Black Blisters
- References
- Index
57 - Our First Case
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Introduction
- 1 The Case of Black Sweat
- 2 A Case of Hives That Wouldn't Go Away
- 3 The Painful Bath
- 4 A Shower of Hives
- 5 A Premenstrual Rash
- 6 Uncombable Hair
- 7 The Man Who Couldn't Sweat
- 8 Scratch Blisters
- 9 Skin Deep Photography
- 10 The Bug That Never Was
- 11 Blue Spots
- 12 White Spots
- 13 Same Place, Next Time Rash
- 14 The Brown Spots That Wouldn't Go Away
- 15 The Case of the Painful Fingertips
- 16 A Strange Sunburn
- 17 A Multiple Personality Dermatitis
- 18 Accidental Hives
- 19 Rotten Fish Odor
- 20 Hormone Blisters
- 21 Flower Shop Itch
- 22 “Stress and a Penny” Hives
- 23 The Case of Unilateral Wrinkles
- 24 Fiery Red Legs
- 25 Painful Feet
- 26 Hot Flashes and Cold Cream
- 27 The Blisters and the Skin Test
- 28 A Chilling Pain
- 29 Rough Skin and Sore Throats
- 30 The Premenstrual Purple Chin
- 31 Nine Year Hives
- 32 Golf Course Dermatitis
- 33 The Secret Message
- 34 Herpes Gladiatorum
- 35 Sunshine Allergy
- 36 L'homme Rouge
- 37 Rings of Rash
- 38 The Breasts That Never Stopped Growing
- 39 The Minister's Hives
- 40 Hardened Skin
- 41 Battery Blisters
- 42 Swollen Lips
- 43 The Worm from Outer Space
- 44 A New Light on Psoriasis
- 45 Black and Blue Spots
- 46 The Emergency Room Itch
- 47 The Sleeper
- 48 A Crazy Rash
- 49 Bald Spots
- 50 The Dog Died
- 51 The Abacus Tumor
- 52 No Spit
- 53 The Smell of Burnt Toast
- 54 The Twenty-Three Year Itch
- 55 The Mysterious Treatment
- 56 The Creeping Acne Cyst
- 57 Our First Case
- 58 A Strange Case of Acne
- 59 The Case of the Glass Eye
- 60 The Hand Eczema Caper
- 61 The Sore That Would Never Heal
- 62 Black Blisters
- References
- Index
Summary
The chief complaint of a thirty-five-year-old man was that he was “in chains.” Indeed, he had been brought in handcuffs and ankle chains to our clinic from the local jail. The officer's key freed the man's arm so the blue prison shirt could be slipped down to reveal the problem. There we saw on the outer side of his right arm a band of tense blisters, extending all the way from his shoulder to his hand. We deferred examining the rest of his skin in deference to the two anxious police officers.
This happened during the first month of a three year residency program when our diagnostic horizon was limited to what we had seen in the medical school clinics. However, we were proud of this, because each week of our senior year our professor of dermatology had demonstrated thirty patients, which our class could then examine at close range for the hour after the lecture. On graduating we knew more about diseases of the skin than any other organ.
We knew that the most common cause of the big blisters this man exhibited would be poison ivy dermatitis or sunburn. But the prison cell admitted very little sunlight and he could not have come in contact with poison ivy in the last few days. Could it be self-induced? Or, could it be a drug allergy? There was no evidence of a chemical or thermal burn and he had no access to drugs.
But surely, the location told us something.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Consultations in DermatologyStudies of Orphan and Unique Patients, pp. 174 - 176Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006