Photofinish

A wife brought her husband with her for her review endocrine consultation. She had had successful treatment for her acromegaly 10 years previously and had now reached a satisfactory endocrinological cure of the condition so that she no longer had the characteristic facial features of acromegaly. The experienced consultant endocrinologist, who had not seen the wife for some time, made a spot diagnosis as the couple entered the consulting room and directed his remarks entirely to the husband, who was clearly acromegalic. Neither the husband nor the wife had recognised the gradual change in the husband's features, and both were quite baffled at him being considered to be the patient rather than the relative. Eventually the consultant endocrinologist's opinion was proved to be correct, and the husband too has now been successfully treated. The incidence of acromegaly in Northern Ireland (population 1 …