Aplasia cutis congenita, uvula bifida and bilateral retinal dystrophy in a girl with Naevus sebaceous syndrome

Gustav Schimmelpenning and the Syndrome Bearing His Name

Gustav Schimmelpenning was born in 1928 in Oldenburg (Germany). From 1971 until 1994 he was head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Kiel. In 1957, while training in neurology and psychiatry, he comprehensively described a case of sebaceous nevus involving the head, with ipsilateral ocular lesions including coloboma of the upper lid, increased density of cranial bones, epileptic seizures and mental retardation. He concluded that this combination of anomalies represented a new 'phacomatosis'. Subsequently this phenotype was reported by other authors under many different names, such as 'Schimmelpenning syndrome', 'Feuerstein-Mims syndrome', 'Schimmelpenning-Feuerstein-Mims syndrome', 'epidermal nevus syndrome', 'Solomon syndrome', 'linear sebaceous nevus syndrome', 'organoid nevus phacomatosis', or 'Jadassohn nevus phacomatosis'. As a consequence of this confusing terminology, Schimmelpenning syndrome even has two different OMIM entries (no. 163200 and no. 165630). The term 'Schimmelpenning syndrome' is both historically justified and practically sufficient to distinguish this phenotype from other epidermal nevus syndromes.

Didymosis aplasticosebacea: coexistence of aplasia cutis congenita and nevus sebaceus may be explained as a twin spot phenomenon

BACKGROUND

Co-occurrence of aplasia cutis congenita and nevus sebaceus has sometimes been observed.

OBJECTIVE

We propose a genetic mechanism that may explain this coexistence of two different congenital skin disorders.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We review 15 cases as reported in the literature and present an additional case. To explain the temporal and spatial proximity of the two skin lesions we advance the concept of twin spotting for which we propose the term didymosis (Greek didymos = twin). In an embryo heterozygous for two different recessive mutations localized on either of a pair of homologous chromosomes, an event of somatic recombination would occur at an early developmental stage, giving rise to two different cell clones homozygous for either mutation.

CONCLUSION

The concept of didymosis aplasticosebacea is so far hypothetical. Future molecular research may show whether this concept holds true.

Depigmented hypertrichosis following Blaschko's lines associated with cerebral and ocular malformations: a new neurocutaneous, autosomal lethal gene syndrome from the group of epidermal naevus syndromes?

The lines of Blaschko represent one of the cutaneous patterns of mosaicism followed by various skin disorders. Developmental abnormalities affecting other tissues derived from the embryonic ectoderm and mesoderm are occasionally associated. We describe a 30-year-old man with depigmented, bilateral hypertrichosis and dilated follicular orifices following Blaschko's lines associated with cerebral and ocular malformations. The findings suggest a previously unreported neurocutaneous, autosomal lethal gene syndrome from the group of epidermal naevus syndromes.