Vitamins have now been employed long enough in the treatment of cutaneous diseases to warrant an appraisal of their clinical value. After the work of Goldberger, Wheeler and Tanner1 on pellagra, there were no outstanding contributions on the relation of vitamin deficiency to diseases of the skin until the present wave of enthusiasm developed several years ago. It now appears that there are six dermatoses attributable to vitamin deficiency, and there are indications that in the near future several other diseases with cutaneous manifestations will be found to be the result of an avitaminosis.
This survey is a clinical appraisal of the value of vitamin therapy in dermatology and syphilology based on my own experience and on well controlled studies reported in the literature. I have omitted the reports of single cases in which the patients were benefited by a hit and miss type of vitamin therapy, and the