Goose bumps on the child

Children may have symptoms similar to goose bumps on their bodies. This is called chicken skin due to genetic and infectious factors. This skin disorder occurs because of the lack of vitamin A in human serum. In identifying the disease and treating it, we must make judgments based on the current condition and pay attention to sun protection.

This disease is an autosomal dominant disease with complete penetrance. However, individual cases have occurred, possibly due to spontaneous mutations.

Because the early damage is in the sun-exposed areas, the lesions worsen after sun exposure. There is a seasonal tendency, worsening in summer and improving in winter. Therefore, it is believed that sunlight may be an important pathogenic factor. However, skin lesions also occur in areas that are not frequently exposed to sunlight, such as the oral mucosa, groin, palms, soles, and nail beds. Because these areas are often susceptible to physical trauma, non-sun damage may also be a cause of the disease.

Based on the low serum vitamin A concentration in some patients and the effective treatment with vitamin A, it is believed that this disease is related to vitamin A metabolism disorder.

Mild cases should be differentiated from seborrheic dermatitis, and localized linear lesions should be differentiated from verrucous nevus.

1. It still needs to be differentiated from the following diseases. The key points of differentiation are as follows:

(1) Acanthosis nigricans: It manifests as soft papilloma-like papules, which are often confined to the wrinkles of the neck, axilla, groin, etc., and are often accompanied by visceral cancer.

(2) Confluent reticular papillomatosis: The lesions are large, flat papules that are often confined to the upper part of the trunk.

(3) Verrucous dyskeratosis: usually a single verrucous nodule on the head or neck.

(1) Actinic keratosis often causes nuclear degeneration of epidermal cells.

(2) Chronic benign familial pemphigus: There are no fissures, but acantholytic bullae can be seen on the basal layer.