Mechanical properties of skin in Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, types I, II, and III.

Mechanical properties of skin were evaluated in vivo in 17 children suffering from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) types I, II, and III. These were compared with normal values from 63 healthy children. Noninvasive measurements were performed under suction of 500 mbar using a Cutometer equipped with a 4-mm probe. Prominent increases in skin extensibility and elasticity were the most distinctive and diagnostic features of all three EDS types. Differences in the average values of biomechanical variables were present among the three types. Patients with EDS-I were the most affected, whereas those with EDS-III had virtually normal skin. However, interindividual differences in the severity of rheological alterations were found within each type, illustrating a continuum in the variation of mechanical properties of EDS skin rather than yielding step differences among the types.