Ive heard or read about rickets. What is it and is it treatable?
• Rickets is a disorder that affects bone development, causing bowing of the legs, and frontal bossing (a prominent forehead with “squaring” of the head). Rickets results from calcium and Vitamin D deficiency. There are a variety of causes, including genetic; in Chinese girls, it is usually caused by insufficient calcium and Vitamin D in the diet. Furthermore, even if intake of Vitamin D does occur, the body must be exposed to sunlight for it to be converted into a form that the body can actually use. Many of the children we see show minimal to mild rickets, which requires nothing more than a good diet and indirect exposure to sunlight. If the condition is more severe, this is still treatable with Vitamin D therapy. Rickets is diagnosed clinically by the presence of the aforementioned physical findings, as well as by blood tests, which are part of our initial evaluation.
