Dermatolysis

DERMATOLYSIS (from Greek derma-skin and lysis-relaxation; synonyms: cutis laxa, chaloderma, loose skin), a name given by Alibert (1835) to the rare congenital disease of the skin that he described, which manifests as exceptional elasticity of the skin (and ligamentous apparatus). In such patients, the skin can be stretched very far (for example, from the sternum to the head), and movements in the joints occur in an abnormally large range ('rubber people'). The skin may hang in irregular folds (like a cape, etc., properly cutis laxa), but more often it evenly covers the underlying parts (cutis hyperelastica). It is usually somewhat doughy in consistency and sometimes appears particularly easily injured. Combinations of cutis laxa with molluscum fibrosum have been described. Histologically, changes are mainly found in the connective tissue of the skin. Du Mesnil discovered mucoid degeneration of it and, on this basis, believes that cutis laxa represents a developmental defect of the skin, as if it were arrested at an early stage of its embryonic state. The disease is congenital; its development after injuries in more mature age has also been described.