Ultrastructural findings in the skin lesions of patients with anetoderma

Eight biopsy specimens from the skin lesions of five patients with anetoderma were studied for their ultrastructural findings. In all of them, normal elastic fibers were absent and a few very thin, irregular elastic fibers with a more or less complete loss of the amorphous substance and a relative conservation of the microfibrils were observed. The collagen fibers were normal. Inflammation composed of macrophages and lymphocytes, with some plasma cells, was a prominent finding. It is suggested that anetoderma and acquired cutis laxa are part of the same spectrum of elastolytic disease.