A way to understand erythromelalgia.

A painful syndrome characterized by pain, heat and redness of the extremities has received at least two different names: erythromelalgia and erythermalgia. The term 'erythromelalgia', which is derived from the 3 Greek words erythros (red), melon (extremities) and algos (pain) was first proposed by Mitchell in 1878 [15] to indicate red, painful extremities. Mitchell was not entirely certain about whether the increased temperature of the skin should be included as a part of the syndrome or not. In 1938, Smith and Allen [18] proposed a term than in their opinion, was more descriptive, namely 'erythermalgia' from the 3 Greek words erythrotes (redness), thermé (heat) and algos (pain). However, neither term completely describes the disorder, The former does not include the increased temperature of the skin, and the latter does not include reference to the involvement of the limbs, which is one of the typical features of the disease. A completely descriptive term might be `erythermomelalgia'. but for convenience the first term proposed can be maintained.