Keratoderma with woolly hair is a group of related conditions that affect the skin and hair and in many cases increase the risk of potentially life-threatening heart problems. People with these conditions have hair that is unusually coarse, dry, fine, and tightly curled. In some cases, the hair is also sparse. The woolly hair texture typically affects only scalp hair and is present from birth. Starting early in life, affected individuals also develop palmoplantar keratoderma, a condition that causes skin on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet to become thick, scaly, and calloused.\n\nCardiomyopathy, which is a disease of the heart muscle, is a life-threatening health problem that can develop in people with keratoderma with woolly hair. Unlike the other features of this condition, signs and symptoms of cardiomyopathy may not appear until adolescence or later. Complications of cardiomyopathy can include an abnormal heartbeat (arrhythmia), heart failure, and sudden death.\n\nKeratoderma with woolly hair comprises several related conditions with overlapping signs and symptoms. Researchers have recently proposed classifying keratoderma with woolly hair into four types, based on the underlying genetic cause. Type I, also known as Naxos disease, is characterized by palmoplantar keratoderma, woolly hair, and a form of cardiomyopathy called arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). Type II, also known as Carvajal syndrome, has hair and skin abnormalities similar to type I but features a different form of cardiomyopathy, called dilated left ventricular cardiomyopathy. Type III also has signs and symptoms similar to those of type I, including ARVC, although the hair and skin abnormalities are often milder. Type IV is characterized by palmoplantar keratoderma and woolly and sparse hair, as well as abnormal fingernails and toenails. Type IV does not appear to cause cardiomyopathy.

Periodontal Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (pEDS) is characterized by distinct oral manifestations. Periodontal tissue breakdown beginning in the teens results in premature loss of teeth. Lack of attached gingiva and thin and fragile gums lead to gingival recession. Connective tissue abnormalities of pEDS typically include easy bruising, pretibial plaques, distal joint hypermobility, hoarse voice, and less commonly manifestations such as organ or vessel rupture. Since the first descriptions of pEDS in the 1970s, 148 individuals have been reported in the literature; however, future in-depth descriptions of non-oral manifestations in newly diagnosed individuals with a molecularly confirmed diagnosis of pEDS will be important to further define the clinical features.

Periodontal Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (pEDS) is characterized by distinct oral manifestations. Periodontal tissue breakdown beginning in the teens results in premature loss of teeth. Lack of attached gingiva and thin and fragile gums lead to gingival recession. Connective tissue abnormalities of pEDS typically include easy bruising, pretibial plaques, distal joint hypermobility, hoarse voice, and less commonly manifestations such as organ or vessel rupture. Since the first descriptions of pEDS in the 1970s, 148 individuals have been reported in the literature; however, future in-depth descriptions of non-oral manifestations in newly diagnosed individuals with a molecularly confirmed diagnosis of pEDS will be important to further define the clinical features.

Aggressive periodontitis, which may be generalized or localized, is characterized by severe and protracted gingival infections, leading to tooth loss. Amounts of microbial deposits are generally inconsistent with the severity of periodontal tissue destruction and the progression of attachment and bone loss may be self arresting (American Academy of Periodontology, 2000). The term 'aggressive periodontitis' replaced the terms 'early-onset,' 'prepubertal,' or 'juvenile periodontitis' at a 1999 International workshop for a classification of periodontal disease and conditions, where it was decided that the classification terminology should not be age dependent or require knowledge of rates of progression (Armitage, 1999). Genetic Heterogeneity of Aggressive Periodontitis Aggressive periodontitis-2 (608526) has been mapped to chromosome 1q25.

Polymicrogyria with or without vascular-type Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is an autosomal recessive disorder with a highly variable phenotype. Although all patients have polymicrogyria and other variable structural brain anomalies on imaging, only some show developmental delay and/or seizures. Similarly, only some patients have connective tissue defects that particularly affect the vascular system and can result in early death (summary by Vandervore et al., 2017).