To determine whether there is anything about the cutaneous innervation that was prescient to the evolution of cNF or neuropathic symptoms, we conducted an in-depth investigation of the cutaneous innervation in 3mm skin punch biopsies taken from three locations in normal appearing glabrous and hairy skin (at least 1 cm from the nearest cNF) in nineteen NF1 patients as compared to the innervation in comparable biopsies from sixteen normal volunteers. Here, NPHS1 is linked to neurofibromatosis type 1.