In 1882, T. Leber, in his lecture "About the Origin of the Retinal Detachment", described a disease characterized by a dry inflammation of the cornea or the cornea and conjunctiva, respectively, with filamentous formations from increasingly scaly corneal epithelium formed to filaments due to the lid reflex. He spoke about keratitis filamentosa (filamentous keratitis).
A few years later, at the beginning of 1888, the surgeon Dr. Johann Mikulicz reported to the Society for Scientific Medicine in Koenigsberg the case of a 42-year-old farmer presenting with painless bilateral swelling of the lacrimal and salivary glands. After complete surgical excision of the lacrimal glands, as well as both submaxillary glands, the patient seemed to feel better - he returned to work. In the same year, the patient unexpectedly died of peritonitis. The bilateral swelling of the lacrimal and salivary glands, with simultaneous ceasing of lacrimation and dryness of mouth was called Mikulic's disease. On March 9 of the same year, in London, Dr. W. B. Hadden discussed before the Clinical Society the case study of a 65-year-old woman who complained of several months of dry mouth. She had a dry mouth, was nearly unable to swallow, her tongue was red, absolutely dry and cracked in all directions like a "crocodile's skin". No tears appeared when she tried to cry. Hadden reported that the situation was improved by treatment with pilocarpine (an alkaloid for stimulating the secretion of saliva, sweat and tears).
Moreover, further reports about comparable clinical cases were published by Hutchinson in England and Fischer in Germany in 1888. Eleven years later, one hundred years ago, the man who was later to give the disease his name was born. Henrik Sjögren was born near Stockholm in 1899. He studied at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and graduated as a medical doctor in 1927.
In 1930, he examined a female patient suffering from arthritis with extreme dryness of the eyes and the mouth. When he gave his report to the ophthalmological society, Sjögren heard that the syndrome was unknown to his older colleagues.