In the past, the disorder was nearly always fatal, whether due to dehydration, infection (sepsis), restricted breathing due to the plating, or other related causes. The most common cause of death was systemic infection, and sufferers rarely survived for more than a few days. However, improved neonatal intensive care and early treatment with oral retinoids, such as the drug Isotretinoin, may improve survival. Early oral retinoid therapy has been shown to soften scales and encourage desquamation. After as little as two weeks of daily oral isotretinoin, fissures in the skin can heal, and plate-like scales can nearly resolve. Improvement in the eclabium and ectropion can also be seen in a matter of weeks. Children who survive the neonatal period usually evolve to a less severe phenotype, resembling a severe congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma. Patients continue to suffer from temperature disregulation and may have heat and cold intolerance. Patients can also have generalized poor hair growth, scarring alopecia, contractures of digits, arthralgias, failure to thrive, hypothyroidism, and short stature. Some patients develop a rheumatoid factor-positive polyarthritis. Survivors can also develop fish-like scales and retention of a waxy, yellowish material in seborrheic areas, with ear adhered to the scalp. The oldest known survivor is Nusrit "Nelly" Shaheen, who was born in 1984 and is in relatively good health as of June 2021. The maximum lifespan of patients with this disease has not yet been determined with the new treatments. A study published in 2011 in the Archives of Dermatology concluded:<unk>  ichthyosis should be regarded as a severe chronic disease that is not invariably fatal. With improved neonatal care and probably the early introduction of oral retinoids, the number of survivors is increasing."
Harlequin-type ichthyosis
Harlequin-type ichthyosis  Harlequin-type ichthyosis  1
Abietic acid dermatitis
Keratosis
Papuloerythroderma of Ofuji
X-linked ichthyosis
Ichthyosis acquisita
Yellow nail syndrome