Journal : Photographic review of medicine & surgery ; vol. 2., no. 3.
Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1871-72.
Description : 22-23 p., [1] pl. ; ill.: 1 photo. ; 24 cm.
Photograph : mounted albumen.
Subject : Clitoris — Hypertrophic diseases.
Notes :
MRS.—, aged 24, a Philadelphian. Is married, but without children. She has enjoyed good health for some seven or eight years, previous to which time she labored under constitutional syphilis. Three years prior to September, 1871, she noticed a small tumor, the size of a filbert, about her genitalia, which rapidly enlarged until it reached the proportions depicted in the photograph. It was unattended by pain, the only annoyance experienced being a dragging sense of weight. The covering of the tumor closely resembled that of the scrotum, being thick and more or less corrugated. Deciding to have it removed, she sought the advice of Dr. F. F. Maury, who, on September 1, 1871, removed it rapidly by means of the écraseur, without loss of blood. The wound was dressed with a piece of oiled lint, and left to granulate. The surface healed and the patient made a speedy recovery.
Remarks.—Dr. S. W. Rodgers, in the London Obstetrical Transactions, reports a case of elephantine development of the clitoris as the result of masturbation. It was treated by the ligature with a good result. Churchill, in his fourth edition of Diseases of Women, figures a similar growth from Dr. McClintock's work on Diseases of Women. In both of these cases there was suspicion of syphilis.
Graily Hewitt, in his work on Diseases of Women, remarks, "that hypertrophy of the clitoris is now and then met with as a consequence of eczema of the skin in the neighborhood, or of a chronic inflammatory condition of the surrounding part, or of syphilis without evident cause. It has also been observed as a congenital condition."
In Holmes's Surgery, vol. v., speaking of non-malignant tumors of the genitalia, it is remarked that the induration and enlargement of the labia, clitoris, etc. are most frequently forms of elephantiasis, consequent upon venereal affections, and that these tumors consist merely of hypertrophied cutaneous structures, and may develop to a very large size if not removed in anticipation.
Professor Gross, in his " System of Surgery," vol. ii. p. 833, remarks that "the principal affection of the clitoris is hypertrophy. In Persia, Turkey, and Egypt hypertrophy of the clitoris is often immense, the tumor equaling the size of an adult's head. The disease, which is sometimes congenital, is generally caused by protracted irritation. When the growth has acquired a large bulk, the only remedy is excision."