The skin and nutritional disorders in the newborn.

Abstract

Nutritional disorders can be responsible for skin, hair and mucosal changes in the newborn. These changes are rarely pathognomonic for a specific nutrient-deficiency disorder due to numerous factors such as simultaneous occurrence of multiple nutrient deficiencies, associated immune dysfunction, compromised epidermal barrier function and cutaneous infections. The author reviews the causes of nutritional disorders in the newborn and the related skin, hair and mucosal changes.