Cutaneous clues for diagnosing X-chromosomal disorders

In a multidisciplinary outpatient clinic for hereditary skin diseases and/or syndromes involving the skin, 7% (30 of 409) of patients were found to have an abnormality involving the X chromosome, a mutation in a gene located on the X chromosome or a clinical diagnosis of an X-linked monogenetic condition. The collaboration of a dermatologist and a clinical geneticist proves to be very valuable in recognizing and diagnosing these conditions. By combining their specific expertize in counselling an individual patient, X-linked diagnoses were recognized and could be confirmed by molecular and/or cytogenetic studies in 24 of 30 cases. Mosaicism plays an important role in many X-linked hereditary skin disorders. From our experience, we extracted clinical clues for specialists working in the field of genetics and/or dermatology for considering X-linked disorders involving the skin.