Solar elastotic bands of the forearm: an unusual clinical presentation of actinic elastosis.

Actinic damage of dermal tissues produces several distinct clinical patterns. Three patients are described as having discrete, soft, cordlike bands on the forearms that extend from dorsal areas of actinic damage and senile purpura to greatest prominence in flexural regions with less solar damage. Histochemical analyses and light and electron microscopy studies of the plaques showed changes consistent with solar elastosis. The clinical variants of actinic elastosis and the possible origins of the abnormal elastic fibrils found in the dermis of chronically sun-damaged skin are discussed. Solar elastotic bands are an unusual form of actinic degeneration.