Ultrastructural findings in the skin lesions of patients with anetoderma
Venencie, P.Y.; Winkelmann, R.K.; Moore, B.A.
Acta Dermato-Venereologica 64(2): 112-120
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0001-5555 PMID: 6203297 Document Number: 238950
Eight biopsy specimens from the skin lesions of five patients with anetoderma were studied for their ultrastructural findings. In all of them, normal elastic fibers were absent and a few very thin, irregular elastic fibers with a more or less complete loss of the amorphous substance and a relative conservation of the microfibrils were observed. The collagen fibers were normal. Inflammation composed of macrophages and lymphocytes, with some plasma cells, was a prominent finding. It is suggested that anetoderma and acquired cutis laxa are part of the same spectrum of elastolytic disease.