SUMMARY The case history of a man with primary syphilis of the right hand is described. This type of luetic condition nowadays is rare. The incidence of genital, anorectal, and extragenital primary syphilis in both men and women and in sailors presenting at the Venereological Outpatient Clinic of the Department of Dermatology of the University Hospital Rotterdam-Dijkzigt during a period of seven years was studied. In sailors and women only genital primary lesions were found, whereas in male civilians 6-3 % of cases of primary syphilis had anorectal lesions. The primary lesions in this study were different from those reported in earlier literature.