Dermatological Clinics: Diseases of the Mucous Membranes

The editors of Dermatologic Clinics devoted to disorders of the mucous membranes have undertaken a Herculean task in compressing such a broad subject into fewer than 200 pages. The lion's share certainly has been allotted to the oral cavity, while the other mucosal surfaces have less-than-complete coverage. Perhaps two distinct editions could have been considered—one dealing exclusively with the oral mucosa and the other with all of the remaining mucosal areas. The first chapter should have spent less time on lichen planus, candidiasis, and hairy leukoplakia, as these are well covered in subsequent chapters. A bit more discussion of leukoplakia could have replaced these subjects. The chapters on candidiasis, lichen planus, and stomatitis medicamentosa are very complete. The breakdown of coverage of the diseases of the oral mucosa is quite complete, although I would like to have seen a separate chapter dealing with viral diseases and perhaps one on oral