The so-called congenital skin defects have not been recorded frequently in the literature. The majority of the accessible reports deal with skin defects of the scalp, which vary in size from a pinpoint to a small coin. They are usually circular in shape, sometimes oval or irregular, and generally have clean-cut edges.
The first authentic case seems to have been recorded by an English physician, Campbell, who in 1826 reported a skin defect of the scalp the size of a crown, which assumed the characteristics of a progressive ulcer. Priestley, in 1859, reported a congenital skin defect over the anterior fontanel about the size of a shilling. The defect healed in a short time, the process of repair beginning at the edge of the ulceration. Billard, in 1828, reported a case of skin defect over the parietal bone supposed to have been caused by a uterine polyp of the mother.