SUMMARY Four patients, three females and one male, were observed in Cologne with sheet‐ or net‐like erythema of the upper chest and of the back, with a tendency to spread to the abdomen. The patients had no symptoms with the exception of itching in one case and itching after sunburn in another. Histo‐logically the epidermis was normal, apart from slight hydropic degeneration and some minor degree of spongiosis. The main features were: dilated blood vessels in the dermis, with a more or less pronounced perivascular infiltrate of round cells, and, in addition, deposits of a substance which stained with alcian blue. Oral treatment with Rhetis was of some benefit, otherwise therapy, including corticosteroids, was not successful. Other antimalarial drugs were not used. There was some relation to sun exposure, but the full spectrum of xenon‐light did not cause any abnormal reactions. Since it was not possible to relate these findings to any known syndrome, a combination of the main signs, reticular erythema and mucinosis, was used to name this entity REM syndrome.

Zusammenfassung: Bei 90 Patienten mit einer Pityriasis versicolor wurde eine 0,1%ige Ciclopiroxolamin‐Lösung zur topischen Behandlung angewendet. Inner‐halb eines Zeitraumes von 4 Wochen waren 74% der Patienten klinisch und mykolo‐gisch geheilt. Durch Weiterbehandlung über 4 Wochen konnte die Heilungsrate auf 86% gesteigert werden. Summary: 90 patients suffering from pityriasis versicolor used a 0.1% solution of ciclopiroxolamine for a topical four week treatment. 74% of the patients were cured clinically and mycologicaliy after a four week‐therapy. Following additional 4 weeks the responder rate rose to 86%.