Ectodermal dysplasias revisited.

Ectodermal dysplasias (EDs) form a large, heterogeneous and increasing nosologic group. Every year, new syndromes are described and labelled as EDs. A few years ago, with the intention of reducing the chaotic aspect that the field was gaining, we proposed a clinical definition and a clinical-mnemonic classification of EDs (Freire-Maia 1971). Since that time, two other reviews were published (Settineri 1974, Witkop et al. 1975), a " community of diseases " was described within EDs (Pinsky 1975), and the group was enlarged with the inclusion of some " new " syndromes. In our 1971 paper, we mentioned 32 EDs. Now that our list includes 52-57, we decided to revisit the subject in order to present a historical analysis and a new clinical overview of EDs as classified into subgroups.