Xerostomia (mouth-dryness), with dryness of the nose and eyes / by Thomas R. Fraser.

Date:
[1893?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Xerostomia (mouth-dryness), with dryness of the nose and eyes / by Thomas R. Fraser. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    1/14
    Xerostomia (Mouth-Dryness), with Dryness of the Nose and Eyes. By Professor Thomas R. Fraser, M.D., F.RC.P.Ed. Eecorded cases of mouth-dryness or xerostomia (as it has been called by Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson and Dr. Hadden) are so few in number that the description of a case now under my observation may serve a useful purpose, even if it add but little to what is already known. Tliat little is com- prised in the circumstances that the nose and eyes are involved as well as the mouth, and that several observations were made on the secretions of these parts which have not been recorded in connection with other cases. The patient, Maggie D., fet 27 years, a table-maid, was first seen by me in February 1892, through the favour of my friend, Dr. Mackness, of Broughty Ferry. She then had been affected for about three and a half years with inabiUty to shed tears and with dryness of the eyeballs; and for about eighteen months, with dryness of the moutli and nose, ac- companied with difficulty in masticating and swallowing food. Her family history disclosed no neurotic tendency, unless it Ije that a sister suffers much from asthma. She herself had Ijeen in good and comfortable conditions as a domestic servant for ten years; but she had been affected with various nervous symptoms during that time. For example, seven years ago, after recovering from scarlet fever, she lost her voice, and for three weeks was able only to whisper; .and since then, aphonia, lasting for several days or weeks, has occurred two or three times. Above all,'however, about eight years ago. she began to suffer severely from nemalgia of the head and face, with violent shooting pains in the course of the lingual and inferior dental nerves, and associated with a condition of l)allor and breathlessness. This continued for at least three