Primary pachydermoperiostosis: a case report

Pachydermoperiostosis (PDP), a rare genodermatosis, occurred in a 38-year-old Indian male. He presented with progressive thickening of the skin on the face and scalp of 15 years duration. Widening of his wrists and ankles and broadening of the fingers and toes had also developed since then. He was born of a consanguineous marriage and had no family history of a similar disorder. He had the typical findings of complete form of PDP including cutis verticis gyrata, coarse facial features, clubbing of the digits in the skin, and periostosis and cortical thickening at the distal ends of long bones of the extremities and small bones of the hands and feet. PDP has two different forms--primary and secondary. These two entities are differentiated by family history and presence or absence of a primary lesion, usually in the lungs. Clinically, in secondary PDP, the cutaneous findings (pachydermia, seborrhoea, oiliness) are less severe than primary PDP; osteoarthropathy is more severe and painful in secondary PDP, especially with congenital heart disease. The present case was suffering from primary PDP that had expressed itself in its complete form.