The designation "vasculitis of atrophie blanche" was first used by Gilliam et al. in 1974, and they regarded atrophie blanche as a synonym of livedo reticularis with summer ulcerations. [28] They thought that this disease "affects young to middle-aged women [and] is usually not associated with any underlying disease process." They had observed in five patients that the condition responded favorably to fibrinolytic therapy. One year later, in 1975, Schroeter et al., too, used the term "vasculitis of atrophie blanche" and they employed it as a synonym for livedo vasculitis and for hyalinizing segmental vasculitis all of which they considered to be the same disease. [29] The authors had observed deposits of immunoglobulins and complement components in the walls of vessels in lesions of atrophie blanche. They suggested that immunologic processes might be involved in the pathogenesis of this condition.