'Lupus vulgaris' are painful cutaneous
tuberculosis skin lesions with
nodular appearance, most often on the face around nose and ears. The lesions may ultimately develop into disfiguring skin
ulcers if left untreated.
The term "lupus" to describe an ulcerative skin disease dates to the late thirteenth century, though it was not until the mid-nineteenth that two specific skin diseases were classified as
Lupus erythematosus and Lupus vulgaris. The term "lupus", from the Latin for
wolf, may derive from the rapacity and virulence of the disease; a 1590 work described it as "a malignant ulcer quickly consuming the neather parts; ... very hungry like unto a woolfe".
[1]
References
1. "Lupus", Oxford English Dictionary, online second edition. Accessed 2006
External links
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Image at
University of Iowa (graphic)