ACROLOCALIZED ACQUIRED CUTIS LAXA

A 55-year-old man presented with a 14-year history of loose, redundant skin on the palmar aspects of the finger tips and toe pulps, which ga ve a peculiar 'chewing gum' appearance, Skin biopsies of involved area s showed a normal appearance, and only a discrete decrease in the elas tic fibres could be identified with an elastic tissue stain, Ultrastru ctural examination, however, demonstrated marked fragmentation and deg eneration of the elastic tissue, Localized cutis laxa in an acral dist ribution, was fully developed at presentation, He gave a history of re peated episodes of swelling and urticaria of the involved areas, which we regard as being the initial inflammatory stages of this disease pr ocess.