Idiopathic familial onychomadesis

Onychomadesis is defined as spontaneous separation of the nail plate from t he nail bed, beginning at its proximal end and resulting in the shedding of the nail. It has been associated with a variety of clinical settings, incl uding systemic illnesses, generalized skin diseases, and drug therapies. Th ere have been a small number of reports in the older literature of idiopath ic onychomadesis occurring in a familial pattern. We report the case of a h ealthy 12-year-old girl and her mother, both of whom have experienced recur rent onychomadesis affecting multiple digits, and in the absence of any cau sal disease or medication.