The herald., 1898-03-11
he CHANGES HIS SKIN
CASE OF JOHN DRHHsrlgo HAS
> II BUT TWO PARAILEI4
His. Body . Mass Of Scales Which
Curl and Give Him
Pain

John Drehsing, a cigar maker living on
scioto street, near Calhoun street. Is
again undergoing the painful process OF
changing his skin. He writhes and wrig-
giles, and has chips cut on himself. while
men learned in medical science look ON
and marvel.
Dressings disease is called by the learn
ed followers of Aesculapius, ichthyosis-
la word coined from the Greek, and mean
| ing snake-like or fish-like Instances are
comparatively common OF patients sheo-
ding their skins in dark, hornlike scales.
With the Scioto street man the entire cuti-
Gle becomes horny In texture, with slight
tendency to scale; becomes partly peariy
white, and sheds from every part OF his
body, commencing at the extremities. Be-
I fore It peels Off, his skin Is as hard as the
| bark of a tree, and as he lies In his bed ana
| suffers he looks not unlike silver birch.
| BUT TWO SIMILAR CASES KNOWN
| The disease Is due to nervous derange-
ment, a lack of nutriment and an impov-
erished blood. Flint, a medical authority
on skin diseases, cites but two cases In
medical history where the skin peels on
annually in pearly white flakes. So, while
he Is uncomfortable, Drehsing can console
himself with the reflection that his malady
is unique. He does not enjoy this feature
of the case however, and despite the APP
peals of physicians who 4iave been called
in to look at him by DR.. George F. Herman.
his attending physician. he stoutly refuses
to go before the academy of medicine.
This singular man Is % years of age and
is married. Until two years ago his skin
gave him no more concern than does the
skin of the ordinary man. Then, in the
early spring, he noticed that his cuticle
was hardening. Soon he was obliged to go
to bed, and after about thirty days he was
able to get up with a brand new skin,
which, however. peeled Off when spring
came around again. Now comes another
skin, and Drehsing is bedridden. his skin
cracking and peeling and curling all over
him. twisting into such hard knots that he
has to have 1t cut of with scissors in or
der to be able to endure his bed. His new
skin. of course, is young and tender, and
those bark-like scales make him feel as
though he was lying in bed or sharp iron
shavings.
COMMENCES AT HIS EXTREMITIES
The scaling commences at his extremities
and .at the present time Drehs!ng is cover
ed with scales from his head to his breast.
and from his feet to his thighs. The middle
portion of his trunk Is only hardening, and
has yet to reach the stage where the
cuticle cracks and curls up. Tht process
OF changing goes on night and day. The
patient will feel his skin twisting into a
knot under his shoulders, and then he has
to call attendants to cut 1t of with pair
of scissors In order that he may be relieved
from his most excruciating pains. He will
have something more than two weeks to
stay In bed yet. and It will be almost as
much longer before his new skin becomes
sufficiently hardened to endure the touch
of clothing without painful irritation.
The sufferer Is a man in ordinary cir
cumstances, and he can i'll afford the
months idleness which his freakish skin
imposes on him every year. to say nothing
Of the expense for medical attention. But
he has to endure 1t. for 1t Is his own skin.-
Cincinnati Commercial Tribune.