[Infantile eczema with special reference to the pathologic lesion].

802 DR. SEDLIS: A brief review of the clinical features of a group of patients with eczema will be followed by a report of special studies of the pathology of the skin. Eczema is a frequent, important skin disease in early life. It has been a puzzling problem for the physician and an exasperating one for parents and patients alike. We began our study of eczema about 1 year ago. During this year, we have accurnulated and organized the study material, and we have tried to learn about the clinfcal picture of eczema and to evaluate certain concepts of its etiology, pathogenesis and therapy. Our study is far from complete, and I will therefore try to avoid drawing definite conclusions from the data presented. Our material to date consists of a clinic population of 169 patients, 91 males and 78 females, who made a total of 646 clinic visits. Fifty-four of these patients required hospitalization in the University Hospital. Thirty of the hospitalized patients were males, 24 were females. I do not know whether the prevalence of boys in our census is significant. The distribution of the patients by race is: Puerto Ricans, 102; Negro, 40; White, 25; Others, 2.