Title: Syphilis Secundaria

Identifier: LL02.49.00.88   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/21194)

Description: Dermatologic stereoview card. Front of card shows external female genitalia with Syphilis Secundaria. The reverse of the card describes the dermatologic conditions as well as the diagnosis and treatment. It is comparatively uncommon to see a genital chancre in women unless it is still present and sought for after the onset of secondary symptoms. This is probably because the primary lesion is painless and is often located upon the cervix uteri where, being inaccessible to view, it is not observed, and also because when the chancre is situated on the vulva it may be very small and of short duration. But on the labium majus, the favorite site of the genital chancre, the initial lesion is usually characteristic. It then appears as a round or oval, finger nail sized, dusky red erosion whose surface is moist and polished or partly covered by a gray film of fibrinous false membrane. Occasionally three may be superficial or deep ulceration. The underlying plaque of dense infiltration is usually present, although very often in this location and in the majority of chancres situated upon the fourchette, nymphae or clitoris the induration is less pronounced and much more diffuse than in the typical penile chancre, and this modification of the most distinctive feature of the primary lesion often makes its clinical recognition exceedingly difficult. Syphilis Secundaria may also be known as Sclerosis syphilitica labii majoris et condylomata lata.