Significance of the occurrence of transparent skin. A study of histological characteristics and biosynthesis of dermal collagen.

Transparent skin has been observed in a proportion of elderly people and its association with senile osteoporosis has already been noted (McConkey, Fraser, Bligh, and Whiteley, 1963). In patients with rheumatoid disease, whether treated with steroids or not, it was found to be commoner than in elderly people unaffected by rheumatoid disease (McConkey, Fraser, and Bligh, 1965). Clinical studies led to the hypothesis that transparent skin is the consequence of a change in the connective tissues of the skin and that a similar change might be taking place in the connective tissues of the bones. This is an account of the histological changes characteristic of transparent skin and of some experiments undertaken to investigate its pathogenesis.