Polymorphic Pemphigoid

Abstract

The term polymorphic pemphigoid has been used in the literature as a variant of bullous pemphigoid. But this term is imprecise and now obsolete, since patients with linear IgA dermatosis have been reported under this terminology. The patients who develop an atypical subepidermal bullous disease with clinical and histological features of both bullous pemphigoid and dermatitis herpetiformis may actually be classified into three groups: (1) vesicular variant of bullous pemphigoid; (2) linear IgA dermatosis, and (3) mixed subepidermal bullous disease.

European guidelines (S3) on diagnosis and management of mucous membrane pemphigoid, initiated by the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology – Part I

“…Mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP) comprises a group of autoantibody-mediated subepidermal bullous diseases, characterized by a chronic course with predominant involvement of mucous membranes and a tendency to scarring. 1,2 Disease severity varies, ranging from mild/moderate disease with mild gingival inflammation, to severe disease affecting multiple mucosal surfaces. In 2002, a group of experts published a consensus-based guideline for the diagnosis and management of MMP.…”