Letter: Skin wrinkling in cystic fibrosis.

The letter from Professor Elliott appears to be the first record of 
skin wrinkling in cystic fibrosis and may be an observation as 
important as that of di Sant' Agnese when he noted the 
high salt concentration of the sweat. It seems that parents are 
well aware of this response, and repeating Professor Elliott's observation by 
soaking the hands of six infants with cystic fibrosis in hot 
water showed that very marked wrinkling was present by five minutes 
and often by two minutes. This did not occur in control 
children of similar nutritional state except in a case of twins 
- one with cystic fibrosis, one without - where the unaffected 
child's fingers began to wrinkle slightly by five minutes. The wrinkling 
does not appear to be associated with wasting due to malnutrition 
since it occurs equally in plump and in thin infants with 
cystic fibrosis, nor is it present in children with severe wasting 
and respiratory disease not due to cystic fibrosis. 