The Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome: A Review of the Literature and Report of a Case with a Subgaleal Hematoma and Bell's Palsy

Edvard Ehlers (1863-1937), a German dermatologist, in 1901 was the first to describe a syndrome which included laxity of the skin and joints associated with a tendency to hemorrhage.¹ In 1907, Paul Cohn recorded a similar syndrome with circumscribed changes in the skin.² Henri Alexandre Danlos (1844-1912), a French physician, in 1908 described a syndrome of laxity of the skin with tumors about the elbows and knees resulting from chronic contusions.³ This case had been reported earlier by Hallopeau as a doubtful form of diabetic xanthomatosis.₄ Since 1908 the symptoms comprising the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome have been characterized by the following features: (1) extreme laxity of the skin (dermatochalasis); (2) extreme laxity of the joints (arthrochalasia); (3) fragility of the skin (dermatorrhexis) and blood vessels. L. M. Pautrier first reported the pathologic findings in the case described by Danlos in 1908.⁵ The first American case recorded