Multiple Noduli Cutanei

The meaning of cutaneous nodules has exercised dermatologists since Unna's description of the entity, nodulus cutaneus, in his textbook¹of 1896. Since then most of the literature concerning this condition has dealt with the pathogenesis of the lesions. We do not wish, in this paper, further to labor the question as to whether these lesions are: (a) post-inflammatory fibromas (Unna,²Arning and Lewandowsky,³Michelson⁴); (b) post-traumatic histiocytic proliferations (Woringer,⁵Senear and Caro,⁶Rentiers and Montgomery,⁷Arnold and Tilden⁸); or (c) sclerosing hemangiomas (Gross and Wollbach⁹). Rather, we wish to report a case of cutaneous nodules because of certain noteworthy and uncommon features and findings, namely: (1) the large number of nodules present; (2) the unusual clinical aspects of some of the tumefactions; (3) the fact that the patient and her daughter have cutaneous nodules and both had hydronephrosis which required operative