8 Year Old Boy Has Fish-Like Scales as His Skin – PHOTO

Pan Xianhang, an eight-year-old boy, has been nicknamed ‘fish boy’ by neighbours because he’s covered from head to toe in thick, itchy scales.

He was born in Wenling, China with a rare genetic skin disease known asIchthyosis, after the ancient Greek word for fish.

Ichthyosis is a heterogeneous family of at least 28 generalized, mostly genetic skin disorders.

All types of ichthyosis have dry, thickened, scaly or flaky skin. In many types there is cracked skin, which is said to resemble the scales on a fish..continie...

While most sufferers develop dry scaly skin across part of their body, Pan’s case is severe; his scales have affected the shape of his eyes, nose, mouth and ears.

They even limit the movement of his arms and legs.

As a result of the condition, he’s in constant pain and struggles to sleep at night because of the itching.

Sufferers are treated with creams, oils and moisturisers, which are designed to hydrate the skin.

A spokesperson for the UK-based Ichthyosis Support Group, Liz Dale said: “There is no known cure and treatments for ichthyosis are predominantly keeping the skin moisturised with plenty of emollients i.e. lotions and creams.

”The skin needs to be moisturized to prevent it from further drying out, which could cause the skin to crack, making it more prone to infection, which may be fatal.”

In annual estimates, more than 16,000 babies are born with some form of Ichthyosis, varying in severity of symptoms.

This is according to Foundation for Ichthyosis & Related Skin Types.

Even as Doctors are currently looking into other ways to treat him, Pan is not the first to make headlines for this stifling disease.