In one of the rarest of cases, a baby boy was born with skin that looks like plastic in Uttar Pradesh! The newborn was taken to different hospitals as doctors failed to understand the condition and its medical need. It was later found that the baby suffers from an inherited genetic disorder called Lamellar ichthyosis in which the skin looks like plastic. The child who was delivered at home on May 24 was taken to hospital after the parents realised that there were abnormalities in the baby's skin. Parents said that the child also had breathing trouble. The child was finally treated for free at a private hospital in Lucknow.

Experts have said that the condition is 'extremely rare' and the baby has been put on life support. After being taken to the Lucknow hospital, doctors diagnosed him with a condition called collodion membrane, in which babies are born with shiny skin resembling plastic wrap. According to a Daily Mail report, it is a genetic disorder that affects one in 6 lakh people.

The report quoted Shishir Agarwal, a child specialist at Mahesh Children's Poly Clinic in Lucknow as saying, "The baby has tight, waxy, shiny skin resembling plastic, a condition called collodion membrane. 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."

Skin of babies born with this permanent skin condition can peel off in the later life. It is inherited from parents who carry the gene but do not have the condition themselves. It is not a contagious disease; however, the person may suffer from hair loss, eye problems, difficulty in bending fingers among others. The family hails from Binhoni Kalan village in Balrampur of Uttar Pradesh.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 29, 2018 09:21 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).