1 | CASE PRESENTATION
A 2.5 kg male baby was born via cesarean section to a 25-year-old female, Gravida 5 Para 3, at 37 weeks of gestation.
The parents are maternal first cousins who have only one healthy female child, and a prior history of a female baby who was diagnosed with harlequin ichthyosis.
At the time of birth, the entire body of the baby was covered with armor-like scale plates with deep fissures that split the scales. The hands and feet were covered with thickened plate-like encasement. Other evident features included severe bilateral ectropion, bilateral eclabium with a fixed-open mouth, flattening of the nose, rudimentary external ears, partial hair loss on the scalp and absence of eyelashes and eyebrows [Figure 1 & 2].
Adequate nutrition, broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics, emollients, fluids and electrolyte were performed.
A dermatology consultation was done, with advice to add Acitretin to the treatment plan.
Anyway, the baby succumbed on the sixth-day of life without changing his treatment plan or receiving Acitretin.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of harlequin ichthyosis to be reported in Syria.