Keratitis, ichthyosis, and deafness (KID syndrome): review of the literature and proposal of a new terminology

The so-called KID (keratitis, ichthyosis, deafness) syndrome is a congenital disorder of ectoderm that affects not only the epidermis, but also other ectodermal tissues such as the corneal epithelium and the inner ear. Sixty-one patients who fulfill the criteria for this syndrome were identified in a review of the literature through December 1993. All had cutaneous and auditory abnormalities, and 95% also had ophthalmologic defects. The most frequent clinical features were neurosensory deafness 90%, erythrokeratoderma 89%, vascularizing keratitis 79%, alopecia 79%, and reticulated hyperkeratosis of the palms and soles 41%. All of these findings constitute the major criteria for the diagnosis. The KID acronym does not accurately define this entity since the disorder is not an ichthyosis, because scaling is not the main cutaneous feature and not all patients have keratitis early in the course. We suggest that this syndrome should be included under the general heading of congenital ectodermal defects as a keratodermatous ectodermal dysplasia (KED).