FOLLICULAR MUCINOSIS A STUDY OF 47 PATIENTS

SUMMARY. .
Forty-seven patients suffering from follicular mucinosis, collected over a period of 16 years from 1952 to 1968, have been studied in detail. Certain clinical and histological features of interest have been noted, and the natural history of the condition has been assessed in 40 patients.
In one group the lesions cleared spontaneously within a few months; in a second group the condition pursued a chronic relapsing but benign course over several years, and in a third group the lesions appeared in association with an overt reticulosis. This association was observed in 8 patients, representing 17% of the total group, and in each case the reticulosis was recognizable clinically and histologically early in the illness. No instance of transition from follicular mucinosis to reticulosis was observed. It is concluded that neither the chronicity of the follicular mucinosis or the age of onset of the condition are of importance in determining the association with a reticulosis, which appears in all cases to run an independent course.
Reticulosis was observed in only a proportion of those patients with extensive lesions, and was not seen in those in whom the lesions were limited to the head and neck. Recognition of those patients particularly at risk enables a more exact prognosis to be given to the individual case.