Tree man disease is verruciform epidermodysplasia, a disease caused by a type of HPV virus that causes the person to have numerous warts spread throughout the body, which are so large and misshapen that they make their hands and feet look like logs. of trees.
Verruciform epidermodysplasia is rare but severely affects the skin. This disease is caused by the presence of the HPV virus and also changes in the immune system that allows these viruses to circulate freely throughout the body, leading to the formation of a large amount of warts throughout the body.
The regions affected by these warts are very sensitive to sunlight and some can turn into cancer. Thus, the same person may have warts on several regions of the body, but not all will be related to cancer.
Symptoms and Diagnosis
Symptoms of verruciform epidermodysplasia may begin shortly after birth, but usually appear between 5 and 12 years of age. Are they:
- Dark warts, which are initially flat but begin to grow and multiply rapidly; with sun exposure, itching and burning sensation may occur.
These warts especially affect the face, hands and feet, and are not present on the scalp or mucous membranes such as the mouth and genital regions.
Although it is not a disease that passes from father to son, there may be siblings with the same disease and there is a greater possibility that the couple will have a child with this disease when there is a consanguineous marriage, that is, when there is a marriage between brothers, between parents and children or between first cousins.
Treatments and Healing
The treatment of verruciform epidermodysplasia should be indicated by the dermatologist and may vary from one person to another. Medicines can be prescribed to strengthen the immune system and surgery can be performed to remove the warts.
However, no treatment is definitive and warts can continue to appear and increase in size, requiring surgery to remove them at least twice a year. If the patient does not undergo any treatment, the warts may develop so much that they can prevent the person from eating and doing their own hygiene.
Some remedies that can be indicated are Salicylic acid, Retinoic acid, Levamisol, Thuya CH30, Acitretina and Interferon. When in addition to the warts the person has cancer, the oncologist may recommend chemotherapy to control the disease, preventing it from getting worse and the cancer from spreading to other areas of the body.
