Page:Skin Diseases of Children.djvu/131

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VARIOUS SKIN DISEASES OF CHILDREN.
93

fingers, the anterior portion of the wrist, the axillæ, genitals, and ankles, and appear as small, curving dotted lines, from the extremity of which the insect may sometimes be dug out with the point of a needle. These burrows are often concealed by an eruption of vesicles, pustules, and crusted sores, and not infrequently the lesions of contagious impetigo are present. Upon other portions of the body the eruption usually consists of numerous excoriated papules covered by minute blood crusts. The anterior aspect of the forearms and the abdomen are especially apt to be the seat of the eruption, but when the disease has existed for several months the eruption may cover the

Fig. 59.—Scabies.

whole body, with the exception of the face, which always remains unaffected, except in the case of infants and very young children. The location of the eruption in this disease depends, to a great extent upon the character of the clothing which the patient wears, and differs in the case of men, women, and children. The excoriations about the breasts of women and upon the genitals of men and boys are due to the ease with which these parts can be scratched at night, while in young children who wear long, close-fitting night dresses the wrists and ankles are most likely to be the seat of the eruption.

The treatment of scabies is simple and effective. For gene-