THE KNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN ABOUT PSORIASIS

Psoriasis, the great dermatologic mystery, is an affliction that has been known since the days of the early Greeks. Much has been learned concerning its symptomatology, its diagnosis, its course, its histopathology, and not a little about its treatment. Concerning its true nature and cause, a maze of speculation has been indulged in, which still clutters the textbooks of today. In this communication, an effort will be made to separate the wheat from the chaff, and to formulate what has been demonstrated and should therefore be retained, and what should be discarded as untenable conjecture. I have analyzed the histories of 592 private psoriasis patients that have been under my care. Regarding sex, there were 281 males suffering from psoriasis, and 244 females. The preponderance of males is rather less marked than in some European figures. Concerning the age at which the psoriasis first developed, data are available on 492