SjS is named after the Swedish ophthalmologist Henrik Sjögren, who
described the disease in
his doctoral thesis in 1933 (in German!). He noticed the link between dry eyes and mouth and
joint problems in middle-aged women. I find it ironic that I have moved to
Sweden and then developed a genetic disease with a Swedish name. I can only
hope that the fact that the disease has a Swedish name all round the world
(except in France where it is called Gougerot's syndrome) also means that there
is a high level of expertise here. The American pages instruct us to pronouce
Sjögren as SHOW-grin or show-gren. Not bad, but a bit Stockholm, and
the
ö is NOT an o with two dots
above it, it is a separate letter in Swedish, along with å and ä!
Last revised February 17 2004.
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