u l i c z ’ s disease : A new perspective and literature review

The first description of Mikulicz’s disease was reported in 1892 by Johann von Mikulicz-Radecki, who described a case of a 42-year-old farmer named Christof Calweit with painless and symmetric bilateral lacrimal, paro t i d , and submandibular gland enlargement associated with lymphocytic infiltrations upon microscopic examination (1). Schaffer in 1927 termed this syndrome of benign and c h ronic glandular swelling as Mikulicz’s syndrome when associated with other entities such as tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, and lymphoma, and as Mikulicz’s disease when idiopathic (2). In 1933, the Danish ophthalmologist Henrik Sjögren introduced the term keratoconjunctivitis sicca in describing the clinical and histologic findings in 19 women with dry mouth and dry eyes, two of whom also displayed swelling of major salivary glands, hence establishing the syndrome E u ropean Journal of Ophthalmology / Vol. 16 no. 2, 2006 / pp. 1 9 92 0 3