Pretibial Myxedema / Pretibial Mucinosis: where do the words come from ?

• The Greek and Latin words of origin are:
  • μυξοσ = muxos = mucosité – latin : mucos
  • οιδεμα = oidema = swelling
• The first term in Greek is not universally used anymore.
• The latin translation of the Greek word is “mucos”.
• The terms translated into Latin from Greek are sometimes confusing: it is probably the reason why words containing “myx” are being abandoned (or out in brackets) and are replaced by the Latin origin “mucos” (wwhich sounds more logical)

• Mucinoses are a group of very diverse skin conditions which have in common the accumulation of mucin (composed of glycosaminoglycanes.
• A certain number of dermatological conditions like tumors and inflammatory dermatoses contain mucin. When the accumulaiton becomes important, the term “mucinosis” is used
• To the dermatologist mucinoses can present as erythema, papules and plaques.

• Pretibial myxedema is a well-described entity and is linked to disorders of the thyroid gland.
• Other entities are lichen myxedematosus (or papular mucinosis), scleromyxedema (generalized lichen myxedematosusm sclerodermoid lichen myxedematosus).
• However reticulated and erythematous mucinosis (REM) described later by Steigleider only has one denomination.

Contributors

Dr Christophe Hsu – dermatologist. Geneva, Switzerland

Source of information: Harms M. Dermatologica Helvetica (The Swiss Journal of Dermatology and Venereology)