Keratoderma Blennorrhagicum

Vidal,1in 1893, was the first to describe a case of keratoderma blennorrhagicum. Since then, sixty-eight additional cases have been reported. These were reviewed to date by Keim2in 1924, together with a case that he observed. Since 1924, thirteen additional cases have been reported by Smith,3Willmott,4Olivet,5Beatty,6Sholtz,7Hansteen,8Rostenberg and Silver,9Millis10and Berman.11 This dermatologic condition is an interesting one, because it is such a definite clinical entity; it is rare, and yet it accompanies one of the commonest infectious diseases. It is confined almost exclusively to the male sex. DIAGNOSIS AND SYMPTOMATOLOGY The diagnosis can be made clinically. Three things are essential: (1) a gonorrheal infection along the genital tract, (2) a gonorrheal arthritis and (3) a keratotic eruption. The eruption may be generalized, or it may be confined to the feet, or