84 



W. B. Bean 



with increasing years so that in the thirties about three- 

 (juarters of the ])ersons observed have the lesions and they 

 are almost always found in the aged. Not only do more 

 people become affected but the spots are more numerous and 

 larger. 



Caviar Lesions 



The caviar lesion is a small, roughly spherical or dome- 

 shaped varicose enlargement of the poorly supported veins 



10- 19 



20-29 



80 100 



Fig. .'5. Incidence of caviar tongue lesions l)y sex and decade. 



in the collecting system under the tongue. The small ones 

 develop as an outpouching of a branch of a communicating 

 vein near the ranine veins. Pressure with a glass slide causes 

 them to empty. Knots and clusters of such vessels with a 

 dark blue or black colour resemble caviar or buck shot (see 

 Fig. 4). Anatomically the caviar lesion is a dilated vein with 

 hypoplastic endothelium but a fairly thick wall. There are 

 no inflammatory changes. Age: There is a sharp and fairly 

 steady increase in incident with increasing age; and the lesions 

 grow larger and more numerous (Fig. 5). 



