Myxedema was first described by Gull,1 sixty-six years ago. He used the expression "cretinoid state" in his account of 5 cases. The term myxedema was coined by Ord a few years later.
Circumscribed myxedema occurs infrequently. In 1883 Kocher2 reported results of 101 thyroidectomies. He noted that myxedema had a predilection for the lower part of the legs but remarked that in only 2 of his patients was it confined entirely to that region. Handley and Downing3 recently reported a case of the disease with pretibial nodules and asserted that since Kocher's time only 23 cases of circumscribed myxedema have been recorded in the literature.
REPORT OF CASES
Case 1.—
E. S. G., a 57 year old Chinese laundryman, came to the dermatologic clinic of the New York Hospital in October 1939, complaining of dryness, cracking and itching of both hands.
Past History.—
In February 1938 the