THE DELINEATION of the place of cortisone and corticotropin (ACTH) in the therapy of various skin disorders is proceeding rapidly.1 Angioneurotic edema, drug eruptions, exfoliative dermatitis, allergic eczema, psoriasis, pemphigus, scleroderma, and dermatomyositis are among the conditions in which improvement has been recorded. The following report describes the results of such therapy in five cases of atopic dermatitis and in one case each of scleroderma, dermatomyositis, exfoliative arsenical dermatitis, pemphigus vulgaris, exfoliative psoriasis, dermatitis herpetiformis, discoid lupus erythematosus, and pityriasis lichenoides et varioliformis.
Each patient had received intensive conventional treatment with little or no change before cortisone or corticotropin was administered. Prior to hormone therapy, the circulating eosinophiles were enumerated by the phloxine method.2 This determination was repeated weekly during treatment as long as the patient remained in the hospital. Specimens of skin, and, when indicated, of muscle, were excised for examination before treatment whenever the