Hipprocates noted in his writing
‘Airs, Waters and Places’ in 400 BC that Nomads and Scythians had lax joints and
multiple scars. These were thought to have been caused by cauterization which
had been applied in an attempt to stiffen up the joints.
In 1657, Dutch surgeon Dr. Job Janszoon
van Meek’ren observed a Spanish boy, George Albes, with extreme ‘Hyper-extensibility’
of the skin. George was presented regularly at the Academy of Leyland, where he
demonstrated the remarkable abnormality of his skin. He had the ability to
stretch the skin of his chin, reaching his chest, covering his eyes and the
skin over his knees could be ‘pulled out to the length of half an ell’. However
this phenomenon was limited to the right side of his body.
Paganini (1782–1840), the world famous
‘Virtuso in Excelsis’, performed unprecedented feats as a violinist; he had ‘hypermobile
joints’, a slender physique, thoracic deformity and joint laxity, all features
consistent with EDS.
The first comprehensive description of
Ehlers Danlos Syndrom (EDS) is given
by Dr. Tschernogobow in 1892 when he presented
2 patients at the Moscow Venereology and Dermatology Society — the first patient was a 17year old boy
who suffered from ‘fragility and hyperelasticity of the skin, hypermobility,
luxation of joints and molluscoid pseudo tumours of the knees, elbows, and
other areas’, the combination of all the above features are suggestive of EDS.
No comments:
Post a Comment