What is Ichthyosis?
Ichthyosis is a rare and chronic disease that affects the skin
Ichthyosis is considered a rare disease because it appears in 1 in 250.000 births. Currently there is no cure and the treatments are exclusively symptomatic, that is, to calm and reduce damage.
The name comes from the Greek’s word Ichthyosis, which means fish, due to the similarity between the skin of the people who live with this rare disease and the scales of a fish.
It is actually a group of diseases.
Go to Types of Ichthyosis
There are more than 36 types of ichthyosis and, although each one has its own particularities, all of them are characterized by:
An extreme dry skin that reduces or eliminates the elasticity of the skin favoring the formation of cracks and wounds that are always opened and impedes a proper joint mobility (difficulties in walking, writing, driving, etc.). They are also possible sources of infection.
Severe and continued peeling.
Thickening of the skin (hyperkeratosis).
Redness (erythema).
Alteration or lack of sweating (hypohidrosis).
Heat intolerance.
Lack of body temperature regulation.