Senile Purpura Research Articles

Senile purpura and liver disease: a possible relationship.

Bateman 1 (1836) is generally credited with the first description of senile purpura, which he had observed in elderly women. These lesions appeared . . . principally along the outside of the forearm in successive dark purple blotches, of an irregular form and various magnitude. Each of these continues for a week or ten days, when the extravasated blood is absorbed. A constant series of these ecchymoses had appeared in one case during ten years, and in others for a shorter period; but in all, the skin of the arm was left of a brown colour. This brief but precise description was forgotten until near the turn of the century, when Unna, 9 as well as Pasini, 4 investigated the condition. The excellent article of Tattersall and Seville 8 gives evidence that senile purpura is constantly associated with an extreme degree of senile degeneration of exposed skin; the individual