Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Harlequin Colour Change, Suneeta Khemani, Shirin Bahadur Ali, Sarfaraz Karim, Mohammad Ali Yezdan

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Harlequin colour change (HCC) is a rare, benign and transient colour change presenting in normal healthy neonates in initial days of life and resolves spontaneously. It is thought to be due to hypothalamic immaturity, leading to capillary bed dysregulation. Gravity might also play a role, as this is apparent on the dependent side. It is important for physicians to recognize this phenomenon so that they do not order any irrelevant investigations. Here, we present a case of a healthy neonate who had HCC, which was unilateral, well demarcated erythema, with patchy pallor. Baby was vitally stable at that time. This …