Therapy
Ichthyosis is a disease for which no therapy leads to a complete cure. Nevertheless, there are several ways to alleviate the symptoms of ichthyosis: It is important to keep the skin supple and to detach the horny layer from the skin with the help of keratolytics. Keratolytics are ingredients that are often contained in special creams, which ensure that the uppermost horny layer, which contains too much keratin, is detached.
Furthermore, the patient must bathe at least once a day and then apply a moisturizing cream containing urea to the skin. Especially the salty water of the dead sea seems to have a particularly good effect on the patients’ skin, which is why baths with dead sea salt are also recommended. Although all these measures alleviate the symptoms, they cannot eliminate the actual cause, the genetic defect.
In addition, although the cornea can be treated with baths and ointments every day, it is still being re-produced. Ichthyosis is therefore a disease that will accompany the patient throughout his or her life. Therefore, self-help groups as an important part of the therapy can also help to cope with the patient’s possible worries and fears and to show that he is not alone, but that there are many people with such a disease.
Prophylaxis
Since ichthyosis is based on a genetic defect, there are no possibilities of prophylaxis. Nevertheless, it is important, especially in patients with only a mild form of ichthyosis, to take adequate care of the skin even when the ichthyosis is not breaking out as badly as in winter, for example.
Prognosis
Ichthyosis is still an incurable disease whose symptoms can only be alleviated. However, since quite a large number of patients are affected by the disease, there are various research approaches on how gene therapy can possibly continue to positively influence the symptoms of ichthyosis in the future. Furthermore, there is the possibility that patients with a severe form of ichthyosis develop a milder form during puberty, although it must be said at this point that a reverse scenario is also possible.
In general, however, ichthyosis does not limit the life expectancy of a patient in any way and with the help of a symptom-relieving therapy an almost completely normal life is possible. Hyperkeratosis is characterized by increased keratinization of the skin. Various causes can be responsible for the increased corneal formation. Here you will find the topic: Hyperkeratosis
