PITYRIASIS RUBRA PILARIS: A CLINICAL STUDY

Abstract

DESPITE the fact that pityriasis rubra pilaris was first described almost a hundred years ago,¹ there are still many gaps in knowledge of the clinical course, extracutaneous manifestations and pathogenesis of the disease. Our interest was recently drawn to this subject when we saw, within a relatively short time, 2 patients in whom a diagnosis of pityriasis rubra pilaris had been made, both of whom presented clinical evidence of concomitant neuromuscular disease. We felt, therefore, that a review of a larger group of cases of pityriasis rubra pilaris might shed further light on this interesting observation. This report represents a clinical analysis of 58 cases in which a diagnosis of pityriasis rubra pilaris was made at the Mayo Clinic. The first reported treatment of this disease with vitamins was that of Pettler,² who had 2 patients, both of whom had been on vitamin-