The acrodysplasias (peripheral dysostoses) are a heterogeneous group of disorders which are characterized primarily by shortened hands and feet. These disorders are associated with phalangeal cone shaped epiphyses of the hands. Further classification of these disorders is based on the type and distribution of the cone shaped epiphyses and on a variety of extra-skeletal anomalies. Thiemann's disease, added arbitrarily to this group, is an entirely different, possibly extinct "necrosis" of the mesophalangeal epiphysis, observed in males during or after puberty.