Autosomal recessive anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia: a rare entity.

We describe a case of anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (AED) with an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance, a very rare entity, in a 2-year-old female child of two asymptomatic, consanguineous parents. Their previous child also had a similar condition. Autosomal recessive AED (AR-AED) can have its full expression both in males and females and it is clinically indistinguishable from the x-linked recessive AED (XL-AED), which is the most common type of ectodermal dysplasia. Unlike the partially symptomatic carriers of XL-AED, the heterozygotes of AR-AED are phenotypically asymptomatic.