GC.10643
Adult skull showing changes due to acquired syphilis. Destruction of the nose and facial portion of the midface left orbit.
Syphilis was a common disease, with no cure in the 19th/early 20th centuries
Facial bones, Anterior segment of an adult skull and, showing changes due to acquired syphilis.
The nasal and lacrimal bones, the frontal processes of the maxillae, the perpendicular plate and most of the labyrinths of the ethmoidal bone have been destroyed along with the vomer and the nasal conchae. The sphenoidal rostrum and air sinuses have been destroyed and there is a circular perforation at the centre of the palate immediately to the left of, and partly involving, the intermaxillary suture. Ulceration at the bone has produced an irregular destruction of the superior border and superciliary arch of the left orbit which has extended to the zygomatic process of the frontal and hence to the zygomatic bone. The piriform aperture is increased in size and altered in shape and its inferior segment is smooth and rounded. A small area of osteoporosis of the frontal squama lies medially near the bregma. Calvarial section shows patchy sclerosis of the diploe. The inner table of the pars frontalis has a dense appearance and from the ethmoidal notch is marked by diverging linear striae.
