Vitamin D: A New Promising Therapy for Congenital Ichthyosis

PMID: 26822380 PMCID: PMC473
Pediatrics. 2016 Jan;137(1). doi: 10.1542/peds.2015-1313. Epub 2015 Dec 31.
Vitamin D: A New Promising Therapy for Congenital Ichthyosis.
Sethuraman G1, Marwaha RK2, Challa A3, Yenamandra VK3, Ramakrishnan L4, Thulkar S5, Sharma VK3.

Abstract

Severe vitamin D deficiency and rickets are highly prevalent among children with congenital ichthyosis. We report an incidental observation of a dramatic and excellent clinical response with regard to skin scaling and stiffness in children with congenital ichthyosis after short-term high-dose vitamin D supplementation that has not been previously described. Seven children with congenital ichthyosis (5 with autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis; 2 with epidermolytic ichthyosis) and severe vitamin D deficiency (and/or rickets) were given 60,000 IU of oral cholecalciferol daily for 10 days under supervision. All children were subsequently put on recommended daily allowance of 400 to 600 IU of cholecalciferol. The main outcome measures observed and studied were reduction in skin scaling and stiffness of the extremities. All cases had severe vitamin D deficiency (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D < 4 ng/mL) and secondary hyperparathyroidism. Six patients had clinical and radiologic evidence of rickets. Significant improvement in scaling was noticeable by day 5, showing further improvement by day 10, in 6 of the 7 cases. At 1 month, the skin had become near normal in all the cases of autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis. Remarkable reduction in stiffness was also observed in all children. Supplementation with high-dose vitamin D followed by recommended daily allowance appears to be an effective form of therapy in the management of congenital ichthyosis with vitamin D deficiency.

Copyright © 2016 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Jeff T Bowles: Being the author of the best-selling book on Vitamin D3 in the world, and given the topic of the book was the miraculous results of my one year experiment of taking HIGH DOSES of vitamin D3, puts me in the unique position of being the sounding board for many hundreds if not a few thousands of others who have embarked on their own high dose vitamin d3 experiment. Nobody on planet earth has this amount of unusual and exciting knowledge, and I will be sharing it with you in this series of 100 short articles describing a disease and some sort of amazing result achieved with high dose D3 therapy.

Sincerely Jeff T. Bowles