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Hutchinson's mask

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Hutchinson's mask is a patient's sensation that the face is covered with a mask or a gauzy network like cobwebs. This medical sign is associated with tabes dorsalis[1] affecting the trigeminal nerve (fifth cranial nerve CN V). It is named in honour of the English physician Sir Jonathan Hutchinson (1828–1913).[2]

Subjective sensations of various kinds, as numbness, pins and needles, formication, a cold trickling feeling in the skin, a feeling in the soles of the feet of walking on putty, wool, or velvet may be complained of. In rare cases Hutchinson's mask, due to affection of the fifth, occurs. The patient says his face feels stiff, and he feels as if it were covered by a cobweb.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Bartolucci, S L.; Stedman, T L.; Forbis, P. (2005), Stedman's Medical Eponyms, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, p. 348, ISBN 0-7817-5443-7
  2. ^ van Ruth, Serge; Toonstra, Johan (July 2008). "Eponyms of Sir Jonathan Hutchinson". International Journal of Dermatology. 47 (7): 754–758. doi:10.1111/j.1365-4632.2008.03696.x. ISSN 1365-4632. PMID 18613888. S2CID 205394827.
  3. ^ Mott, Frederick Walker, ed. (1908). Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry from the Pathological Laboratory of the London County Asylums, Clabury, Essex. Vol. 2. p. 45.