Infant Born With ‘Plastic Skin’ In Uttar Pradesh

An infant in Uttar Pradesh is born with ‘plastic-like skin’ due to a rare genetic disorder, lamellar ichthyosis.

An infant in UP’s Balrampur, is born with lamellar ichthyosis that makes his skin ‘plastic-like’

(Photo: AP/Caters TV)

Video Editor: Vishal Kumar

An infant in Uttar Pradesh is born with skin resembling plastic due to a rare genetic disorder, lamellar ichthyosis, that affects one in six lakh people. This baby boy’s skin is tight, waxy and shiny.

For parents, Anita Devi and Alakhram Yadav, the joy from the birth of their new-born son was shortlived, as they noticed that their son had been born with plastic-like skin.

Doctors at the local communuity centre suggested that the baby boy be taken to an advanced medical centre citing that his condition was critical. The father visited multiple hospitals but the doctors kept referring him to other hospitals, saying they could not help as his was a rare disorder. Finally, the father went to a private hospital over a hundred miles away, where the doctors admitted him and even offered free treatment. There he was diagnosed with a condition called collodion membrane which is caused by a rare, hereditary genetic disorder called Lamellar Ichthyosis.

The baby has tight, waxy, shiny skin resembling plastic, a condition called collodion membrane. The baby has been kept on life support system. His condition is improving and his survival chances are good. His disorder is extremely rare. In the nine years of my medical career, this is the first case of collodion baby that I’ve come across. This is a permanent skin condition and is very painful. Parents of such babies need to be very careful.

Dr. Shishir Agarwal, Child Specialist at Mahesh Children’s Poly Clinic, Lucknow

The infant was put on life support and the doctors say that chances of his survival are good. But the condition is extremely rare lacks a permanent cure. Furthermore, the condition is not just extremely excruciating, but also renders him prone to infections and diseases, paticularly water and airborne diseases.