Mirault, at Angiers, speaks of a case in
which two fingers were lost in fifteen days, a fact which makes
his diagnosis dubious. Beranger-Ferraud has seen all the toes
amputated, and there is a wax model by Baretta, Paris, in the
Army Medical Museum at Washington, in which all the toes of the
right foot have been amputated, and the process is fast making
progress at the middle third of the leg.
Ainhum is much more common in males than in females; it is, in
fact, distinctly rare in the latter. Of von Winckler's 20 cases
all were males.
It may occur at any age, but is most common between thirty and
thirty-five. It has been reported in utero by Guyot, and was seen
to extend up to the thigh, a statement that is most likely
fallacious. However, there are well- authenticated cases in
infants, and again in persons over seventy years of age.
In some few cases the metatarso-phalangeal joint is affected; but
no case has been seen at the base of the ungual phalanx. The
duration of the disease is between two and four years, but Dr.
Evans's case had been in progress fifty years. It rarely runs its
full course before a year.
Ainhum begins as a small furrow or crack, such as soldiers often
experience, at the digito-plantar fold, seen first on the inner
side.
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