VARIATIONS IN THE CUTANEOUS MANIFESTATIONS OF VITAMIN A DEFICIENCY FROM INFANCY TO PUBERTY

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Abstract
In a former paper1 dealing with the nature and age distribution of the cutaneous manifestations of vitamin A deficiency, it was pointed out that infants and children of prepubertal age did not often exhibit hyperkeratosis of the hair follicles, lesions believed to be a specific sign of this nutritional disease. Thus, of 91 patients with vitamin A deficiency between 2 months and 15 years of age, only 6, or 6.6 per cent, had follicular hyperkeratosis, while of 103 patients from 16 to 30 years of age, 47, or 45.6 per cent, presented follicular signs of the disease. It was thought significant, however, that 26 members, or 28.6 per cent, of the first group, who did not manifest lesions of the hair follicles, showed generalized xerosis of the skin. The diagnosis of vitamin A deficiency in all but a few instances was based on the presence of xerophthalmia. There

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