Definition of "ichthyosis" [‖Ich•thy•o•sis]

• A congenital, often hereditary skin disease marked by dry, thickened, scaly skin. Also called fishskin disease. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "A physician used hypnosis to improve by 90 percent a congenital disease known as ichthyosis, or fish skin disease; in this affliction the skin becomes black and scaly."
• "Ichthyosis is a disease of the skin characterized by a morbid development of the papillæ and thickening of the epidermic lamellæ; according as the skin is affected over a larger or smaller area, or only the epithelial lining of the follicles, it is known as ichthyosis diffusa, or ichthyosis follicularis."
• "Ichthyosis is a disease of the skin characterized by a morbid development of the papillae and thickening of the epidermic lamellae; according as the skin is affected over a larger or smaller area, or only the epithelial lining of the follicles, it is known as ichthyosis diffusa, or ichthyosis follicularis."