  (Synonyms: Atrophoderma; Atrophy of the Skin.) What do you understand by atrophy of the skin? By atrophy of the skin is meant an idiopathic or symptomatic wasting or degeneration of its component elements. State the several conditions met with. Glossy skin, general idiopathic atrophy of the skin, parchment skin, atrophic lines and spots, senile atrophy, and the atrophy following certain cutaneous diseases. Describe glossy skin (atrophoderma neuriticum), and state the treatment. Glossy skin is a rare condition following an injury or disease of the nerve. It is usually seen about the fingers. The skin is hairless, faintly reddish, smooth and shining, with a varnished and thin appearance, and with a tendency to fissuring. More or less severe and persistent burning pain precedes and accompanies the atrophy. Protective applications are called for, the disease tending slowly to spontaneous disappearance. Describe general idiopathic atrophy of the skin, and give the treatment. General idiopathic atrophy of the skin is extremely rare, and is characterized by a gradual, more or less general, degenerative and quantitative atrophy of the skin structures, accompanied usually with more or less discoloration and pigmentation. Treatment is palliative and based upon indications. Describe parchment skin, and state the treatment. Parchment skin (xeroderma pigmentosum, angioma pigmentosum et atrophicum) is a rare disease, the exact nature of which is not understood. It is characterized by the appearance of numerous disseminated, freckle-like pigment-spots, telangiectases, atrophied muscles, more or less shrinking and contraction of the integument, and followed, in most instances, by epitheliomatous tumors and ulceration, and finally death. It is usually slow in its course, beginning in childhood and lasting for years. It is not infrequently seen in several children of the same family. Treatment is palliative, consisting, if necessary, of the use of protective applications and of the administration of tonics and nutrients. Describe atrophic lines and spots. Atrophic lines and spots (striÆ et maculÆ atrophicÆ) may be idiopathic or symptomatic, the lesions consisting of scar-like or atrophic-looking, whitish lines and macules, most commonly seen on the trunk. They are smooth and glistening. Slight hyperÆmia usually precedes their formation. As an idiopathic disease its course is insidious and slow, and its progress eventually stayed. The so-called lineÆ albicantes, resulting from the stretching of the skin produced by pregnancy or tumors, and from rapid development of fat, may be mentioned as illustrating the symptomatic variety. In course of time the atrophy becomes less conspicuous. Describe senile atrophy. Senile atrophy is not uncommon, the atrophy resulting, as the name inferentially implies, from advancing age. It is characterized by thinning and wasting, dryness, and a wrinkled condition, with more or less pigmentation and loss of hair. Circumscribed pigmentary deposits and seborrhoea, with degeneration, are also noted. What several diseases of the skin are commonly followed by atrophic changes? Favus, lupus, syphilis, leprosy, scleroderma and morphoea.
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