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It is sad that a so well conceived and skillfully prepared volume as this inexpensive, compact, beautifully illustrated small textbook should be so badly marred by errors, some minor but some really serious.
The most serious errors are under drug therapy. The toxicity of methotrexate—quite properly recommended in the currently accepted doses for recalcitrant psoriasis —is said to be confined to suppression of cells of the hair bulbs, oral and intestinal mucosa, and bone marrow. No mention whatever is made of its most serious toxic effect: the causation of hepatic cirrhosis. The toxicity of dapsone (quite properly recommended for dermatitis herpetiformis in the full dose of 100 mg twice a day) is said to be limited to the causation of normocytic anemia, and this is said to be preventable by giving iron to the patient. No mention is made of the really serious reactions of methemoglobinemia, hemolytic anemia, and agranulocytosis.