Ben Osowski, now 5, was born a few days before Thanksgiving - not a time when hospitals typically teem with specialists who could make a diagnosis. Ben was treated much like a burn victim, Frank said. He was coated with salves and moisturizers and wrapped in gauze. Frank and his wife, Jacklyn, were shown how to take care of their baby so they could spend the holiday at home.

A few days later, Ben was diagnosed with a type of ichthyosis, a group of more than two dozen disorders in which skin cells grow too quickly and/or their shedding is impaired. Signs of the disease vary depending on the type, but dry, scaly, flaky and hardened, thickening skin are common. ("Ichthy" means fish in Greek.) The skin can be itchy or painful.