A Text-book of Diseases of WomenPenrose, Charles B. (Charles Bingham)
Science
A Text-book of Diseases of Women
Penrose, Charles B. (Charles Bingham)
Women -- Diseases
Simple ovarian dermoids are usually of small or moderate size, varying
from the size of a hen’s egg to that of the adult head. The cysts
rarely contain more than 8 pints of fluid.
Dermoid cysts may become larger by fusion with glandular cysts or as
the result of inflammation. Dermoid cysts are usually unilateral; both
ovaries are affected in about 20 per cent. of the cases. They are
primarily unilocular. Sometimes two or more dermoid cysts spring from
the same ovary, and these contemporaneous cysts may become united, and
the contiguous walls may atrophy so that the cavities communicate.
Dermoid cysts of the ovary have been found at all ages--in the fetus of
eight months and in women over eighty years of age. They are observed
most frequently from the fifteenth to the forty-fifth year.
The external appearance of the dermoid cyst differs from that of the
glandular cyst. It is dull and often yellowish or brownish in color.
Upon the internal surface of the cyst is found a membrane which looks
like skin and which has a similar structure. The skin may cover the
whole of the surface of the cavity, or it may be restricted to a small
area, and with the underlying tissue form a prominence of the cyst
wall--the so-called parenchyma body. This body is composed of tissue
derivatives of one, two, or all three layers of the blastoderm from
the surface inward--the ectoderm, mesoderm, and entoderm.
The following cutaneous appendages are found: hair, sebaceous glands,
sweat-glands, teeth, mammæ, horn, nails. The cyst may also contain
bone, unstriped muscle, and tissue resembling brain-matter.
The hair may arise from the whole surface of the cyst, or tufts of
various length may be found growing from slight prominences of the
surface. The hair is usually short; it is sometimes found, however,
varying in length from 4 or 5 inches to 5 feet.
There seems to be no relation between the color of the hair of
the dermoid and that upon the external surface of the body of the
individual. The hair in an ovarian dermoid of a negress has been found
of a blonde color.
The hair changes in color with age, and in an old woman may become
white.
The hair is constantly shed, and the cyst may contain a large quantity
of short loose hair mixed with the other contents. Sometimes the shed
hair is found rolled up in balls of sebaceous matter.
Sebaceous glands and sweat-glands are usually numerous.
Teeth may be found free in the cyst-cavity, or they may be attached to
bone or cartilage within the cyst-wall, while the crowns project into
the cavity; or they may lie completely imbedded in the wall. They are
often well formed, though they may be faulty in development and shape.
They are usually few in number, ranging from one to ten. Many more
teeth than this, however, are sometimes found; in one case there were
300.
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