[Failure to form wrinkles on the finger tips in the warm water test in lepromatous nerve damage].

In order to estimate the extent of nerval defects, we recommend the soaking test which may reveal affected areas indicated by the loss of wrinkling at the finger-tips after soaking the hands in warm water for half an hour. Thus we found impairment in the formation of wrinkles in 6 out of 7 tested patients suffering from different types of leprosy. In order to study the significance of the soaking test with regard to acute nerval signs and symptoms, one patient was reexaminated when he showed acute painful swelling of the right n. ulnaris. There was normal wrinkling observed at the affected hand, which did not differ from the outcome of the preceding test. This finding indicates that the soaking test is only appropriate to the examination of chronic nerval lesions in leprosy.