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Article
August 1927

ENDOGENOUS IRRITANTS AS FACTORS IN ECZEMA AND IN OTHER DERMATOSES: PRELIMINARY REPORT

Author Affiliations

Lecturer in Dermatology, McGill University; Associate Dermatologist, Montreal General Hospital MONTREAL, CANADA

From the Dermatological Clinic of Prof. G. Gordon Campbell, Montreal General Hospital.

Arch Derm Syphilol. 1927;16(2):131-140. doi:10.1001/archderm.1927.02380020003001
Abstract

The relationship between intestinal disorders and eczema has been the subject of much controversy among dermatologists. Eczemas associated with certain metabolic causes, to wit, "diabetic eczema," were recognized long ago, and more recently those associated with low sugar tolerance, have been recognized, as pointed out by McGlasson1 and Ayers2 in the United States and Campbell3 in Canada. The work of Bloch4 and others on the factor of external irritation has tended to swing the pendulum too far away from internal causes. The undoubted cases of eczema reported by Wise and Ramirez5 and by others showed definitely that eczema, particularly chronic, itchy, lichenified types, could be due to a food sensitization in an allergic person. Intestinal toxins as possible causes have been given variable consideration in textbooks on dermatology. Stelwagon and Gaskill say:

Digestive debility, dyspepsia, and its frequent accompaniment, constipation, must also be given a

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