Page:Skin Diseases of Children.djvu/70

44 to the development of a moist surface when the skin is scratched or rubbed. Neither papules nor vesicles are present in this form of the disease. The eruption is usually limited in extent, although it may occur acutely in the form of numerous small, rounded or oval patches scattered over the face, trunk, and extremities (Figs. 21 and 22).

In the erythematous eczema of childhood itching is not apt to be severe, although in adults this form occurring upon the

. 23.—Eczema rubrum.

forehead, about the eyes, and elsewhere is apt to produce considerable thickening of the skin and a most intolerable pruritus.

In papular eczema, which was formerly described under the head of lichen simplex, we find irregular groups of bright-red, acuminate papules, many of which become excoriated and tipped by a minute blood crust, and some of which tend to run together, when sufficiently numerous, and form a thickened, scaly, or crusted patch. The accompanying plate shows a well-marked case of this form of the disease.

Vesicular eczema is a form rarely met with, since the natu-