[Collodion baby: clinical aspects and role of prenatal diagnosis].

Collodion baby is a severe form of congenital ichthyosis detected in neonatal period. It often has a characteristic clinical picture. When evolution is not fatal; it often causes dry Ichthyosis. Thanks to molecular biology techniques, prenatal diagnosis can be made since the 10-12 weeks of amenorrhea, allowing genetic counselling. Prognosis depends on several parameters, namely the degree of the initial manifestation, the duration of desquamation, as well as underlying Ichthyosis This rewiew of the literature which aims to clarify the diagnostic aspects and therapeutic treatment as well as the role of the antenatal diagnosis is based on a new observation of a collodion baby born at 34 weeks, of a parturient woman having an index case and of infant deaths occurring in the first day of life.