Mid-dermal Elastolysis in a Patient Undergoing Chronic Hemodialysis
This article has been peer reviewed and approved by Michael Fisher, MD, Professor of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Review date: February 2009.
Drs. Eaton and Knable report no conflict of interest. Dr. Callen is a consultant for Abbott Laboratories; Amgen Inc; Electrical Optical Sciences; Genentech, Inc; and Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation, and a speaker for Steifel Laboratories, Inc. These relationships are not relevant to this article. The authors report no discussion of off-label use. Dr. Fisher reports no conflict of interest. The staff of CCME of Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Cutis® have no conflicts of interest with commercial interest related directly or indirectly to this educational activity. From the Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Eaton was a resident, Dr. Knable is Associate Clinical Professor, and Dr. Callen is Professor of Medicine. Dr. Eaton currently is a dermatologist, Hawaii Permenente Medical Group, Honolulu.
This case report was presented in part at the Summer Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology; August 1-5, 2007; New York, New York.
Philip A. Eaton, MD; Alfred L. Knable, MD; Jeffrey P. Callen, MD
Mid-dermal elastolysis (MDE) is a rare acquired disorder of unknown etiology that typically presents as discrete patches of wrinkling over the trunk and arms or as perifollicular papules in the same distribution. The histopathologic finding of a bandlike loss of elastic tissue localized to the mid dermis is diagnostic. Our patient presented with atypical clinical features of urticarial papules and plaques that were histopathologically diagnostic of MDE. To our knowledge, the atypical presentation of MDE and association with hemodialysis have not been described. Furthermore, we believe matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) dysfunction to be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.