To the Editor.—
On the three cases of Haber's syndrome (HS) we reported in the June 1981 Archives (117:321-324), Crovato and Rebora wrote in the April 1982 Archives (118:214) that Dowling-Degos disease (DDD) should be seriously considered in the differential diagnosis of HS. In a reply to Crovato and Rebora, I said that HS and DDD are different entities, since all cases of DDD, originally reported by Jones and Grice,1 had had reticulate pigmentation, while our cases of HS did not. I recently observed four cases of DDD in one family; one of these patients did not have reticulate pigmentation. Therefore, reticulate pigmentation is not a prerequisite for the diagnosis of DDD.I have changed my view. In addition to the common histologic feature of epidermal downgrowths, I now think HS may be the same as DDD for the following reasons:
Both DDD and HS are slowly