Porphyria Research Paper

Porphyria is named from the ancient Greek word porphura, meaning purple. The Greeks borrowed the term from the Phoenicians, who extracted a purple pigment from purpura mollusks to dye the garments of their royal family. (Lane 2002). Porphyrias are so diverse due to the fact that they have symptoms that can be considered somewhat slight to extreme and some are considered a common Porphyria to a rare disorder and are classified into 8 different types and are put in 2 main headings, Acute Porphyria which effects the nervous system and Cutaneous Porphyria which effects the skin. These diseases effect numbers such as 1 in 10,000 for Porphyria Cutanea Tarda (PCT) which is considered the most common form to Congenital Erythropoietic Porphyria (CEP) …show more content…
Which makes this disease extremely difficult to diagnose because the symptoms can be associated with countless other health issues. One of the hallmark symptoms is photosensitivity with the excessive reaction to light, which causes chronic blistering on the exposed areas of the skin with itching and swelling of the skin. Acute porphyria can develop quickly and last for days and for weeks. Other symptoms are abdominal pain, often severe, chest pain, increased heart rate and blood pressure, muscle weakness, nausea, vomiting and constipation, and some urinary retention with the urine becoming red or brown in color. On the more extreme side of the effects of some porphyrias are symptoms such as seizures, increased hair growth, scars and skin color changes, extreme tightening of the skin to the effect of nose and fingers falling off, lips and gums may become so taut that the teeth project like fangs highly exposing the canine teeth, scarring of the cornea and causing blindness, and extreme personality changes to the effected person. These symptoms are more prone to the Congenital Erthropietic Porphyria which is the rarest form and develops the most extreme symptoms. (Kujtan