HyperHA Syndrome
This seems to be an uncommon syndrome that I’m seeing in young Shar-Pei. These pups have
excessive wrinkling and overdone heads. At some point moderate to severe itching develops
with excoriations due to self-trauma the result. In addition the skin becomes excessively scaly
with serum exudation drying on the surface as crusts. I suspect these individuals have excessively
high levels of hyaluronan (mucin) which can lead to inflammation of the skin. In one
article it was demonstrated that Shar-Pei have five fold higher levels of hyaluronan than other
dog breeds. It is also known that hyaluronan (HA) can broken down into proinflammatory substances
which stimulate inflammation. I have seen one set of littermates in which one dog had
this condition and the other one did not. There was a distinct difference in appearance between
the two littermates. These dogs do not respond to antibiotics, various shampoos, topical therapy,
antihistamines, etc. I have had good success with tapering doses of prednisolone ending in
alternate day therapy which does decrease mucin production and “deflates” the dog. Several of
these individuals have seemed to outgrow this condition. | 
