Like its predecessor, this volume of Current Problems in Dermatology also contains some articles read before two symposia in 1986. This volume is divided into the following five sections: genetic principles, the epidermis, the junction zone and dermis, DNA repair, and animal models. Some articles within each section are extremely interesting and well-prepared, while others appear to be somewhat controversial.
In the first section, Dr Sybert's chapter is an excellent introduction to genetic principles applied to the skin. She rightly stresses the issue of phenotypic (or genetic) heterogeneity as the most important genetic principle for clinical morphologists to understand. Dr Happle's chapter on Blashko's lines appears not to pay adequate attention to this important principle. However, it is a stimulating, if controversial, chapter that must be read. I found the chapter on gene expression during formation of the cuticle of Caenorhabditis eligans (a soil nematode) to be out of synchrony