It is so
common that about one per cent of the natives of certain villages
on the Ivory Coast, West Africa, are subject to it. As a rule the
earliest symptoms in childhood are: more or less persistent
headache, particularly frontal, sanguineous and purulent
discharge from the nostrils, and the formation of symmetric
swellings the size of an almond in the region of the nasal
processes of the superior maxilla. The cartilage does not seem to
be involved, and, although it is not so stated, the nasal duct
appears to remain intact.
The headache and discharge continue for a year, and the swelling
continually increases through life, although the symptoms
gradually disappear, the skin not becoming involved, and no pain
being present. It has been noticed in young chimpanzees. The
illustration represents a man of forty who suffered from the
disease since puberty. Pressure on the eyeball had started and
the native said he expected that in two years he would lose his
sight. Figure 251 shows an analogous condition, called by
Hutchinson symmetric osteomata of the nasal processes of the
maxilla. His patient was a native of Great Britain.
Among neuromata, multiple neurofibroma is of considerable
interest, chiefly for the extent of general involvement.
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