To the Editor:—In a letter on the Nikolsky sign (A. M. A. Arch. Dermat. & Syph.69:321, 1954) Dr. Zakon accuses me of crediting P. V. Nikolsky "incorrectly with being the first to describe trichorrhexis areata (Sabouraud) and cutis rhomboidalis nuchae (Jadassohn)."
Judging by his letter, Dr. Zakon considers it an established fact that trichorrhexis areata was described by Sabouraud and cutis rhomboidalis nuchae by Jadassohn, although he does not confirm his assertion by any proofs.
However, as is disclosed in an article published in the Handbuch der Haut und Gechlechtskrankheiten, Vol. 13, Pt. 1, p. 145 (Reprint 1), Sabouraud described trichorrhexis areata in 1921, while P. V. Nikolsky described and explained this disease as far back as 1900 (Transactions of Russian Medical Society of the Warsaw University, Warsaw, 1901, Reprint 2, pp. 25-33).
Cutis rhomboidalis nuchae was described by P. V. Nikolsky in the Vestnik venerologii