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ENDOCRINE GLANDS 



but not as much as in typical myxedema. The face is 

 slightly pale and puffy and the rest of the body shows a 

 slight obesity which tends to hide the sexual characteristics. 



Young boys show excessive adiposity, most marked at 

 the level of the hips and the breasts. Little girls show an 

 ungraceful obesity: the breasts are invaded with fat, the 

 abdomen bulges out, the skin forms pleats on the sides and 

 on the abdomen. 



At a more advanced age thyroid deficiency causes 

 myxedematous infantilism. This attenuated type of 

 myxedema, described by Brissaud, is evidenced by the 

 morphological signs of childhood after puberty. The face 

 is round, the thorax is elongated and cylindrical, while 

 the abdomen protrudes as in childhood. The limbs are 

 rounded. The shape is feminine, the underlying muscles 

 being hidden by an excessive amount of subcutaneous 

 fat. The genital organs are rudimentary; the penis is 

 small and short; the testicles are well formed, have 

 descended, but are small. The hairs are few or even 

 absent on the pubis, axilla and face. The voice remains 

 high pitched ; the larynx does not protrude. In the female, 

 the pelvis and the breast do not develop. The vulva looks 

 forward as in little girls and menstruation does not appear. 



X-ray of the skeleton shows a delay in the appearance 

 of ossification points and persistence of cartilage outside 

 of the normal limits. Adolescents are like big children, 

 not only physically but mentally. They are emotional, 

 easily frightened, without care and are very affected. 



All cases of infantilism are not myxedematous and this 

 type must not be mistaken for the real infantilism of 

 Lorain. The latter is characterized by a decrease in size. 

 The morphology is, however, not that of a child. The 

 features of the face are formed; the shoulders are large 

 and proportional to the other parts of the body. The 



