MACROCYTIC ANEMIA AND IMPAIRED LIVER FUNCTION IN ECZEMATOUS AND CERTAIN OTHER DERMATOSES

THE PATIENT with a skin disorder who expresses the belief that something "may be lacking'' in his system deserves to be taken seriously. Profound nutritional disturbances may exist and may be the cause of certain obscure dermatoses even in the absence of obvious dietary deficiencies or characteristic clinical manifestations. In this brief discussion attention will be focused on two nutritional and metabolic disturbances which have recently been discussed in dermatological literature and several illustrative cases in our experience will be described. MACROCYTIC NUTRITIONAL ANEMIA Stryker and Halbeisen 1 in 1945 called to the attention of dermatologists a relationship between certain dermatoses and nutritional disorders as revealed by a macrocytic anemia. They carried out hematological studies on 179 patients presenting various dermatoses, with a view to determining the presence of a macrocytic anemia. It was pointed out that a routine blood examination including red cell count, white cell count and