Distraught mother bathes her baby in bleach to ward off infection

A mother has ​bravely ​told how she has to bathe her baby in bleach to help him shed his skin due to a rare disease which leaves him covered in scales. Alicia Barber, 27, washes Jamison, one, in bleach (Clorox) twice a week for 15 minutes before exfoliating him with a mitt to rub away hard skin and ward off infection. Little Jamison suffers from Harlequin ichthyosis, a severe skin disease caused by a genetic mutation which affects around one in 500,000 births. Infants with the condition are born covered with a hard layer of protein in the outer layer of the skin, which forms scale-like diamond-shaped plates, separated by deep cracks. The keratin shell makes it near impossible for those with the condition to move around freely and can cause breathing difficulties as well as leaving sufferers at high risk of infection.