• A 68-year-old man with apparently light-exacerbated erythematous cutaneous plaques on his face and on the dorsa of his hands was found to have late-onset erythropoietic protoporphyria, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia. Extensive deposits of material that stained with periodic acid—Schiff were present in the lesional dermis. Monospecific antibody studies showed this material to be mainly type IV collagen. These findings strongly suggest that the lesions are a manifestation of erythropoietic protoporphyria. The late onset and asymptomatic unusual cutaneous lesions appear to be a new presentation of the disease.
(Arch Dermatol 1985;121:1309-1312)