Joseph Merrick's Disease
JOSEPH MERRICK, dubbed "The Elephant Man", is one of the most famous patients in history, not just on account of his frightful appearance while he was alive, but also because of the division of opinion amongst the medical establishment after his death over just what disease he had suffered from.
Mr. Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man, was born on August 5th 1862 - a year after the start of American Civil War - in Leicestershire, Great Britain. His mother was slightly crippled but his brother was normal. Joseph Merrick's development was normal until age two when small growths began to be noticed on his face, the first signs of a frightful disorder which would transform him into the "Elephant Man".
By the age of seventeen Joseph Merrick, The …show more content…
Merrick's - The Elephant Man - were no less spared. Toward the end of his life severe arthritis forced him to limp and use a walking stick. In addition, the scoliosis (curvature) of his spine revealed in surviving photographs probably would have reduced his lung capacity predisposing him to shortness of breath and chest infections. There is a divide amongst Joseph Merrick medical authorities as to just what disease he had actually suffered from. An early theory was that Joseph Merrick had elephantiasis - a disease of blocked sewage vessels in the body - lymphatic - that leads to tissue swelling, but this is not currently in favor. Neurofibromatosis had been a very strong contender for a number of decades until 1976 when a very rare condition called Proteus syndrome was forwarded. Proteus is so rare that less than one hundred cases to date have ever been documented, but it agrees with the 'fossil' evidence left by Mr. Joseph Merrick. It describes overgrowth of soft tissues and bone, sometimes only on one side of the body (hemi hypertrophy). Classical neurofibromatosis on the other hand, is a tumorous growth of nerve schwann sheaths (insulated covering like that around copper wiring), and does not readily lend itself to explain Joseph Merrick's bones i.e. The Elephant Man
Mr. Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man, was born on August 5th 1862 - a year after the start of American Civil War - in Leicestershire, Great Britain. His mother was slightly crippled but his brother was normal. Joseph Merrick's development was normal until age two when small growths began to be noticed on his face, the first signs of a frightful disorder which would transform him into the "Elephant Man".
By the age of seventeen Joseph Merrick, The …show more content…
Merrick's - The Elephant Man - were no less spared. Toward the end of his life severe arthritis forced him to limp and use a walking stick. In addition, the scoliosis (curvature) of his spine revealed in surviving photographs probably would have reduced his lung capacity predisposing him to shortness of breath and chest infections. There is a divide amongst Joseph Merrick medical authorities as to just what disease he had actually suffered from. An early theory was that Joseph Merrick had elephantiasis - a disease of blocked sewage vessels in the body - lymphatic - that leads to tissue swelling, but this is not currently in favor. Neurofibromatosis had been a very strong contender for a number of decades until 1976 when a very rare condition called Proteus syndrome was forwarded. Proteus is so rare that less than one hundred cases to date have ever been documented, but it agrees with the 'fossil' evidence left by Mr. Joseph Merrick. It describes overgrowth of soft tissues and bone, sometimes only on one side of the body (hemi hypertrophy). Classical neurofibromatosis on the other hand, is a tumorous growth of nerve schwann sheaths (insulated covering like that around copper wiring), and does not readily lend itself to explain Joseph Merrick's bones i.e. The Elephant Man