Dermatologic Symptoms of Vitamin Deficiencies

The clinical problems of deficiency of vitamins presented by cutaneous lesions have been recognized within the past decade. The pioneers of dermatology recognized a relation between dietary metabolism and the skin but did not know about vitamins. The literature on the influence of vitamins on the skin pertinent to the present review is recent. No published record in English is complete. Mouriquand and Gate gave an ambitious outline before the Ninth International Congress of Dermatology and Syphilology at Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 13 to 21, 1935. They separated the clinical and experimental features under each of the initialed vitamins. Much space was given to pellagra. No bibliography was included in their report, and many statements were credited to oral communications. Pasini, of Milan, Italy, discussed the paper of Mouriquand and Gate. These authors, he said, had made a general pathologic exposition of the cutaneous reactions due to a lack of vitamins.