Erythema Gyratum Repens

Abstract

In October, 1952, Dr. John A Gammel reported a case of a woman with a bizarre skin eruption apparently related to cancer of the breast. He labeled it ``erythema gyratum repens.'' No subsequent publication in English of a case closely similar seems to have been made. The salient features of Gammel's case were as follows: Woman aged 55 years. Eruption present for nine months. Began on the anterior neck and adjacent part of the chest. Face and neck reddened and scaly; edema of lids. Trunk and limbs covered by erythema with a pattern like a knotty cypress board (excellent photographs show this well) and with a collarette type of desquamation; the erythema moved from day to day and parts would clear while others flared. Poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma of the breast discovered. Rapid clearing of the rash following removal of the