Harlequin Ichthyosis: Treatment, Procedure, Cost and Side Effects

This is a condition where individuals at a very early age (infants) are diagnosed with a disorder associated with the skin. The skin becomes very hard and there is an additional layer of thick skin that covers most parts of their bodies. These additional skins are diamond shaped and are separated with deep cracks within the skin also known as fissures. These abnormalities affect the eyelid shape, nose, mouth and even ears too. If the condition is left untreated or unrecognized then it might lead to difficulty in breathing and many respiratory problems. Since there is an extra layer of skin on the original skin of the body, the individuals find it difficult to perform water loss, regulation of body temperature and prevent them to fight various infections. Infants with this condition face through excessive loss of essential fluids from the body which makes it a life threatening condition for them. The cause of this condition is yet unknown and this type of condition are also very rare. It is still believed that it is a genetic disorder that causes these skin abnormalities. The symptoms for this condition are thick skin with an additional layer of skin with cracks in between them, you might also face distorted facial conditions, tightened lips and mouth which force the eyelids and lips to bulge inwards of your body which causes you difficulty to feed.

With proper treatment at an early stage if the child survives then they might still suffer from the following side effects. They can have dry and red skin, delayed physical development, and impaired hearing of eyesight due to additional skin formation in the covering skin layers of ears and eyes.

Depending on the stage of this condition the recovery time depends. If one faces a severe case of Harlequin Ichtyosis then they might not even survive their first week after their birth as they fail to respire and adapt to the body temperature. If the condition is not so severe then the recovery time for this condition comes with a prolonged procedure of treatment. The recovery is a fifty is fifty chance. Some might recover after ten to fifteen years whereas some might never recover at all. However if you don’t recover, you can still experience less pain and less symptoms than you used to.

The cost of treatment for this condition depends on neonatal intensive care unit of the medical institutions. Since the severe patients barely survive their first week after birth, the cost for the treatment ranges from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 85,000. If the condition is not that severe then with a prolonged treatment period the cost ranges from Rs. 7,500 to Rs. 15,000 (monthly).

Since this condition is very rare and the proper diagnosis procedure for this type of condition is still unknown, the results of the treatment are never permanent. One can survive and experience less symptoms of this disease where as some might not survive after birth if they are already born with this condition.