How Clarence S. Livingood and his Manual of Dermatology influenced dermatologic therapy.

Clarence S. Livingood and his mentors, Pillsbury and Sulzberger, wrote the Manual of Dermatology, a book that was the dermatologic handbook of choice for thousands of medical officers in World War II. By virtue of its wide distribution among a variety of physicians practicing in the medical boom of the 40s, 50s, and 60s, this book (and its formulary) was one of the most influential dermatologic texts of the 20th century. Livingood would repeat the strategies employed in writing this book over and over in his long career advancing dermatology among American medical specialties.

Sebaceous carcinoma in children.

Sebaceous carcinoma is a rare malignant tumor derived from the epithelium of sebaceous glands. It potentially may develop from any sebaceous gland, but most commonly occurs in the periorbital area. We report a case of sebaceous carcinoma in a 14-year-old girl who was first seen with an asymptomatic 2.5 x 2.3-cm firm, multilobulated cutaneous nodule on the anterior thorax, which had been present for 1 year. She was adopted, and no family history is available. A skin biopsy specimen revealed a poorly differentiated infiltrative carcinoma involving the dermis and subcutaneous fat and focally involving the epidermis. Tumor cells had sebaceous and squamous differentiation. A diagnosis of sebaceous carcinoma was made. She was treated by surgical excision with a 2-cm margin. Further work-up showed no evidence of Muir-Torre syndrome.