Acquired Disorders of Collagen and Elastin

Abstract

Skin atrophy is associated with a variety of acquired diseases and is characterized by varying degrees of thinning of the skin. Atrophy affects the dermis, and more rarely, the subcutaneous fat tissue, and can be both focal and diffuse. Dermal atrophy generally leads to a significant loss of collagen fibrils or to a loss of dermal substances such as the elastic fibers. If the elastic fibers are reduced, the formation of hernias usually occurs. A sole thinning of the epidermis cannot be clinically estimated. The most pronounced clinical form of skin atrophy is found in acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans, the late phase of an infection with borrelia burgdorferi (chapter ▶ "Lyme Borreliosis and Other Nonvenereal Spirochetal Infections").