Two new synthetic retinoids, isotretinoin (13-cis-retinoic acid) and etretinate (RO 10-9259) are now being studied. From Oct 13 through 15, 1980, an international symposium on retinoids in dermatology, organized by an international scientific committee (Profs C. E. Orfanos, Berlin; O. Braun-Falco, Munich, Germany; E. M. Farber, Stanford, Calif; C. Grupper, Paris; M. Polano, Leiden, the Netherlands; and R. Schuppli, Basel, Switzerland), was held at The Free University of Berlin. More than 400 participants representing 33 countries heard the results of recent basic and clinical research on the oral use of these remarkable new drugs. Historically, the availability of new pharmacologic agents has greatly influenced the development of dermatology. In the 1980s and 1990s, retinoids may revolutionize dermatologic therapy in a manner analogous to glucocorticoids in the 1950s and 1960s. For this reason, we believed that a report summarizing the highlights of the Berlin retinoid symposium would be of interest. (Remarks