# Skin disease where washing makes you stink? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 22, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-disease-where-washing-makes-you-stink/381426 "2006-11-22T15:09:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-disease-where-washing-makes-you-stink/381426/1 "2006-11-22T15:09:07Z")
So, my girlfriend and I are watching this show right now showing this boy in Thailand whose skin looks like it’s covered in dry mud. It’s grey and crackly. Since it’s all in Chinese, my girlfriend’s giving me a synopsis. Turns out if this kid washes, he stinks. So he just never washes. Does anyone know what this is? I think she said his skin is very, very dry. If that helps. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-disease-where-washing-makes-you-stink/381426/2 "2006-11-22T16:20:37Z")
Your description sounds a bit like Harlequin Ichthyosis (don’t google that term if you’re even a tiny bit squeamish). It’s usually fatal in infancy, but there are rare cases where people survive into young adulthood with it. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-disease-where-washing-makes-you-stink/381426/3 "2006-11-22T16:38:27Z")
But if adults look _anything_ like a baby with that the OP surely would have mention more then it looks like he’s covered in mud. ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-disease-where-washing-makes-you-stink/381426/4 "2006-11-22T19:59:01Z")
There’s trimethylamineuria. or “fish-odor syndrome,” but I’ve never read that washing makes the stink worse. More info: [http://www.medical-library.net/sites/framer.html?/sites/\_fish\_odor\_syndrome.html](http://www.medical-library.net/sites/framer.html?/sites/_fish_odor_syndrome.html) ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-disease-where-washing-makes-you-stink/381426/5 "2006-11-22T21:15:35Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Harlequin Ichthyosis (don’t google that term if you’re even a tiny bit squeamish). [/QUOTE] Quoted for emphasis. I have to go lie down now. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-disease-where-washing-makes-you-stink/381426/6 "2006-11-22T22:03:55Z")
[QUOTE=Patty O’Furniture] Quoted for emphasis. I have to go lie down now. [/QUOTE] Wikipedia describes it without pictures. For which I’m glad. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-disease-where-washing-makes-you-stink/381426/7 "2006-11-22T23:56:11Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] But if adults look _anything_ like a baby with that the OP surely would have mention more then it looks like he’s covered in mud. [/QUOTE] According to [the Foundation for Ichthyosis & Related Skin Types](http://www.scalyskin.org/column.cfm?ColumnID=35) (Don’t worry, just illustrations). > [@](#): > > survivors have the appearance of lamellar ichthyosis or congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma. The illustration for [lamellar ichthyosis,](http://www.scalyskin.org/content.cfm?ContentID=91&ColumnID=14)looks like it might be what the OP saw. But, still no mentions of an odor. ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-disease-where-washing-makes-you-stink/381426/8 "2006-11-23T03:52:59Z")
I did a google image search of all of the diseases. I peaked through my fingers with one squinted eye in fear. When the pictures came up, each time, I was able to open my eyes, but I didn’t have the stomach to enlarge the pictures. From the thumbnails, I didn’t see anything that resembled this boy. Looking at the boy (who appeared to be about 12), he had medium/dark gray legions of skin around his neck, hist entire arms and legs. His face was more or less normal. His head and scalp seemed normal as well. Looking closely at his skin, it looked like when I was a kid and I used to play in the pluff mud in the marsh. When the mud dried it, it was a layer about a quarter of an inch thick and cracked. It was the same color gray as this boys skin. One thing, that did seemed to resemble the image of the baby in the thumbnails of the Harlequin Ichthyosis, there were red lines. Are those blood vessels? I could faintly see what seemed to be scars on the boys face, which may have been the same as these red lines I saw on the babies body. That’s all I got though. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-disease-where-washing-makes-you-stink/381426/9 "2006-11-23T04:30:48Z")
Whether you’re describing some type of ichthyosis or another condition where the skin is cracked and appears like it’s “covered in dry mud”, secondary skin infections are common. The reason for this is at least two-fold: first, essentially any condition with abnormal and/or broken skin allows bacteria to penetrate and take hold. Second, with all the scaling and _hyperkeratosis_ (i.e. excessive proliferation of the outer layer of the skin) some infections will get covered up, trapped really, by the massive scales. In a way, then, it’s like there’s lots of little skin abscesses. When the patient washes an affected area, he/she may wash off an outer layer of scales that had been covering up the infection. When that happens: ODOR (the patient has opened the abscess to the air). [Here’s one article](http://www.emedicine.com/DERM/topic190.htm) that mentions the problem of odor in people with _Lamellar Ichthyosis_. Just search for the word ‘odor’ within the text. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-disease-where-washing-makes-you-stink/381426/10 "2006-11-23T04:50:13Z")
This could be it. Scroll down to figure 6 [http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/xmas98/adwhite/figures.html](http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/xmas98/adwhite/figures.html) > [@](#): > > “Epidermolytic hyperkeratosis, a rare autosomal dominant condition characterised by generalised foul-smelling, fissured hyperkeratotic skin, which leads to profound social isolation”. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-disease-where-washing-makes-you-stink/381426/11 "2006-11-23T06:19:58Z")
[QUOTE=Batsinma Belfry] This could be it. Scroll down to figure 6 [http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/xmas98/adwhite/figures.html](http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/xmas98/adwhite/figures.html) [/QUOTE] Maybe, but, again, _any_ of the ichthyotic conditions can lead to smelly skin infections by the mechanism I mentioned above. Look how it’s described [here](http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic590.htm) for Epidermolytic Hyperkeratosis, and then how it’s descibed in [the link I posted above](http://www.emedicine.com/DERM/topic190.htm) regarding Lamellar Ichthyosis. Basically the same. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-disease-where-washing-makes-you-stink/381426/12 "2006-11-23T06:41:15Z")
**KarlGauss** I agree. I swear I didn’t see your post, before my last post. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-disease-where-washing-makes-you-stink/381426/13 "2006-11-23T08:32:13Z")
[QUOTE=gitfiddle] One thing, that did seemed to resemble the image of the baby in the thumbnails of the Harlequin Ichthyosis, there were red lines. Are those blood vessels? [/QUOTE] No, they’re raw cracks between hardened plates of skin.