Hydro-Adenitis

This is an inflammatory state of the perspiratory follicles, ending in suppuration. The disease may occur in every region of the body where there are glands, except in the sole of the foot; but it is most frequent in the axilla, at the margin of the anus, and near the nipple. It is also seen on the face. The disease commences by a crop of, or perhaps only one or two small inflammatory, tumors, always distinct, about the size of peas, of bright red hue, and at first somewhat like boils; but they are unlike boils in the fact that the little inflamed indurations begin not on the surface of the skin, in a sebaceous or hair follicle, but beneath the skin, which is reached and involved secondarily. The suppurating follicles offer no prominent "point" or "head", and there is no discharge till the swelling bursts, when the disease is brought to a sudden termination. The causes are said to be uncleanliness, friction, the contact of irritants, pus, parasites, profuse perspiration, and, according to Bazin, the arthritic dyscrasia, syphilis, and scrofula, but nothing is known about this. The disease is often mistaken for scrofuloderma.