The road to the
current understanding of ‘Xeroderma Pigmentosum’ [XP] started in late 19th
century with Dr. Moriz Kaposi, a Hungarian-born professor of dermatology in
Vienna. In 1874, Kaposi described 4 patients with ‘Xeroderma’ or ‘‘parchment
skin’’ in the early textbook of dermatology (Hebra and Kaposi, 1874), which he
wrote with Professor Ferdinand Hebra, his father-in-law (Kraemer et al., 1987).
‘‘In addition to the parchment-like dryness, thinness, and wrinkling of the epidermis,
the checkered pigmentation and the small dilatations of the vessels, the most
remarkable symptoms were the contraction and, at the same time, thinning of the
skin’’, features designating poikiloderma.
In 1883, Albert
Neisser of Breslau, Germany reported XP with neurological abnormalities in 2
siblings who had XP with progressive neurological degeneration beginning in the
second decade (Neisser, 1883). At present, approximately ~25% of XP patients in
the United States develop progressive neurological degeneration (Bradford et al., 2011; Table 1 &
Figure 1d).
In 1878, Dr. RW
Taylor, MD, of New York reported the first few patients in USA at the inaugural
meeting of American Dermatological Association. In 1888, he reviewed the world
literature and reported a total of 40 cases (Taylor, 1888).