Hands and feet peeled

Question

My 4y old daughter has a great desquamation of the feet and hands in spite of a consultation with a dermatologist and given ointments. Is it due to a too important lack of vitamins? Does she lose too much salt?
Perhaps it is not due to cystic fibrosis?
Thank you for your reply.

Answer

Hello,

The desquamation of feet and hands that you describe may be related to aquagenic palmo-plantar keratoderma observed to varying degrees in three-quarters of patients with cystic fibrosis. It is a benign manifestation although it may be uncomfortable and accompanied by itching. It is also found in people without cystic fibrosis and probably more frequently in healthy carriers of a single mutation of the cystic fibrosis gene, the CFTR gene.
It can be caused by the bucket test which consists of immersing hands in cold or warm water for 3 minutes. You can find more information by searching the Archive of ECORN-CF for this topic.

Hope this answer can help.
Best wishes
Gilles RAULT, MD, Roscoff CF Center

14.02.2017