[Illustration: FIG. 88.--Multiple Neuro-fibromas of Skin (Molluscum
fibrosum, or Recklinghausen's disease).]
_The cutaneous neuro-fibroma_ or _molluscum fibrosum_ has been shown by
Recklinghausen to be a soft fibroma related to the terminal filaments of
one of the cutaneous nerves (Fig. 88). The disease appears in the form
of multiple, soft, projecting tumours, scattered all over the body,
except the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. The tumours are of
all sizes, some being no larger than a pin's head, whilst many are as
big as a filbert and a few even larger. Many are sessile and others are
distinctly pedunculated, but all are covered with skin. They are mobile,
soft to the touch, and of the consistence of firm fat. In exceptional
cases one of the skin tumours may attain an enormous size and cause a
hideous deformity, hanging down by its own weight in lobulated or folded
masses (pachy-dermatocele). The treatment consists in removing the
larger swellings. In some cases molluscum fibrosum is associated with
pigmentation of the skin and with multiple tumours of the nerve-trunks.
The small multiple tumours rarely call for interference.
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