Congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma


Congenital Ichthyosiform Erythroderma, also known as Nonbullous congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma is a rare type of the ichthyosis family of skin diseases which occurs in 1 in 200,000 to 300,000 births. CIE comes under the umbrella term autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis, which include non-syndromic congenital ichthyoses such as harlequin ichthyosis and lamellar ichthyosis.

Symptoms

Infants are often born in a collodion membrane, a shiny, wax outer layer on the skin and usually with ectropion, a condition in which the eyelids turn outwards. When the membrane is shed, the skin is red with a generalized white scale. Palms, soles and areas on the joints are often affected with hyperkeratosis, a thickening of the layer of dead skin cells on the surface of the skin forming scales. Eclabium, ectropion and alopecia are more common in CIE than in Lamellar ichthyosis.
CIE can present very similarly to LI and they often share characteristics, though the two conditions can often be differentiated by the appearance of the scales. Scales on patients with CIE are fine and white on skin with erythema while appear larger and greyer on the limbs, compared to LI where scales appear large and dark.

Genetics

CIE is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder. This means a child must inherit a defective pair of genes to show the symptoms. Parents who are carriers of the defective genes show no symptoms but their children have a 25% chance of having CIE.
There are several genetic faults which can produce CIE. Known genes involved include TGM1, ALOX12B, ALOXE3, NIPAL4, ABCA12, CYP4F22, LIPN, CERS3, PNPLA1, ST14, and CASP14

Diagnosis

Treatment