Peter J. Koblenzer

Tufted angioma of the thigh

Tufted angioma or angioblastoma of Nakagawa is a rare vascular tumor that usually appears in early childhood. It frequently is seen as an erythematous to red-brown, frequently indurated plaque that usually occurs on the trunk or neck. Typically tufted angiomas enlarge for a few years and then cease growing and remain stable. Histopathologic findings are pathognomonic. We describe a patient with a tufted angioma of the thigh who sought treatment for paroxysmal episodes of pain. Treatment with topical clobetasol propionate resulted in a decreased frequency of painful episodes.

HYPERTRICHOSIS LANUGINOSA ASSOCIATED WITH DIAZOXIDE THERAPY IN PREPUBERTAL CHILDREN: A CLINICOPATHOLOGIC STUDY*

In 1963, Okun and coworkers’ reviewed their 30 cases in which diazoxide had been used as an antihypertensive agent, and noted that hypertrichosis had occurred in six female patients. Hyperglycemia had occurred in 15 of the 30 patients and in 5 of the 6 patients who demonstrated “hirsutism”. The hypertrichosis** appeared to be drug-dependent, and disappeared several weeks after the drug was discontinued.’ The overall incidence of hypertrichosis during the field trials of diazoxide as an antihypertensive drug appeared to be one percent.2 However, when diazoxide came into increasing use for the treatment of hypoglycemic states, hypertrichosis was again noted as a prominent and more frequent side effecP5 (FIGURES 1 and 2). Since July of 1965, eight children with idiopathic hypoglycemia of infancy have been treated with diazoxide at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Hypertrichosis occurred in all cases. Some preliminary attempts were made to investigate this action of diazoxide in the hope that it would provide basic information concerning the physiology of hair growth as well as some insight into the mechanism of action of this drug.

Anomalies of the Vascular System as They Affect the Skin

Associate in Pediatrics and Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Associate Physician, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa. † Resident in Dermatology, Skin and Cancer Hospital of Philadelphia, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa. Reprints available: Division of Dermatology, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 1740 Bainbridge Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19146. TE nature and pathogenesis of the vascuHE atho en lar anomalies of the skin are easily understood when examined frorn an embryologic point of view. The tissue and site of origin can usually be identified and the stage at which the faulty development took place can be recognized. Therefore, two great classes of vascular anomalities are generally identified-(a) the true ectasias and (b) the tumorous conditions. For a proper understanding of the vascular anomalies which affect the skin and which are clin-

Non-Fluorescent Ringworm of the Scalp due to Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. granulosum

In early April, the child’s parents noted an enlarged lymph node in the suboccipital area and boggy swelling of the scalp in the region of the vertex. One week later, the swelling was felt to be fluctuant and was, therefore, incised. Drainage consisted only of a little blood. Continuing increase in size of the swelling led to a second incision four days later with again minimal drainage. The swelling was associated with no systemic symptoms. When the patient was seen by us on April 14th there were a boggy mass (kerion) in the central