Scleroma: an Etiological Study.

Rhinoscleroma was discovered in 1870 by von Hebra (1) who considered it an unusual form of skin cancer. Geber (2) later characterized the lesion as a chronic inflammatory process accompanied by perivascular cellular infiltration and connective tissue proliferation. Mikulicz (3) clearly described the histological picture including the diagnostic "foam" or "lace" cells which have been named after him. Since the disease is not confined to the nose as von Hebra originally assumed in using the prefix "rhino," the more inclusive term scleroma was officially adopted at the Second International Congress of Otorhino-laryngology (4) held in Madrid in 1932.