Anita Devi and Alakhram Yadav delivered their first child at home last week with a rare condition that gives his skin a waxy and shiny appearance like a plastic.
The baby, who has not yet been named, was born with lamellar ichthyosis
The condition makes skin tight, waxy and causes it to shed regularly
Medic said it was ‘extremely rare’ but the baby has a good chance of survival
The Indian couple rushed to three hospitals in six hours after their first son was born with a rare condition which makes his skin look like plastic,looked abnormal and the child struggling to breathe.
They were eventually sent to a private hospital in Lucknow, about 300 miles south-east of New Delhi, where doctors treated the baby for free.
An expert said the skin condition is ‘extremely rare’ and the baby was put on life support but his parents have been told he has a good chance of survival.
The family are from a village called Binhoni Kalan in Balrampur, a district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, near the border with Nepal.
Ms Devi gave birth to the couple’s first child last Thursday, May 24, in a normal delivery at home, but they soon realised something was wrong.
They were finally referred to a private hospital in Lucknow, over 100 miles from their home, where doctors admitted him and offered free treatment.
There he was diagnosed with a condition called collodion membrane, in which babies are born with tight, waxy and shiny skin resembling plastic wrap.
Rare condition affecting one in 600,000 people
The condition, according to doctors, is caused by a rare inherited genetic disorder called lamellar ichthyosis that affects one in 600,000 people.
Babies born with the permanent condition may have a tight, plastic-looking membrane on their skin, which will then peel off.
Lamellar ichthyosis is a permanent condition which causes the skin to shed far more quickly and more often than a normal person’s would
In later life lamellar ichthyosis is associated with excessive skin shedding, and it is usually inherited from parents who do not have the condition but carry the gene.
It is not a contagious condition but there is no cure, and complications can include hair loss, difficulty bending fingers, overheating, tight skin cutting off circulation, and eye problems.
‘Within six hours hours, I visited at least three hospitals with my baby as doctors kept me referring to other hospitals saying they can’t help him as he was a rare case,’ Mr Yadav added,
Dr Shishir Agarwal, a child specialist at Mahesh Children’s Poly Clinic in Lucknow said: ‘The baby has tight, waxy, shiny skin resembling plastic, a condition called collodion membrane.
‘In nine years this is the first case I’ve come across’
A medic said this was the first case he had seen of the ‘extremely rare’ condition, but the baby was put on life support and has a ‘good chance’ of surviving.
‘The baby has been kept on life support system. He is improving now and his survival chances are quite good.’
‘The condition is extremely rare. In my nine years of medical career, this is the first case of collodion baby I’ve come across.
‘This is a permanent skin condition which is very painful.
‘Parents of such babies need to be very careful as they are very prone to infections and to diseases particularly to water and airborne diseases.’
