A rare, inherited skin disease. The skin is normal at birth, but photosensitivity (extreme sensitivity to sunlight) causes it to become dry, wrinkled, freckled, and prematurely aged by about the age of 5.
Noncancerous skin tumours and skin cancers also develop. Xeroderma pigmentosum is often accompanied by related eye problems, such as photophobia and conjunctivitis.
Treatment of the condition consists of protecting the skin from sunlight. Skin cancers are usually treated surgically or with radiotherapy.
A rare disease in which DNA repair mechanisms fail, rendering the skin especially vulnerable to damage from ultraviolet light (see ULTRAVIOLET RAYS (UVR)). Extreme photosensitivity begins in infancy; later, marked freckling occurs and premature CARCINOGENESIS in the skin usually leads to early death. There may also be neurological complications.
The term means dry skin. Normal skin may become dry when exposed to very low ambient humidity and is then vulnerable to irritation by soaps, detergents and other chemicals which cause ‘chapping’. Dryness of the skin may also be a feature of skin disease, especially atopic eczema (see ATOPY; DERMATITIS). Genetically determined xeroderma is called ICHTHYOSIS.... xeroderma
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