The commonest source of naturally acquired microchimerism, i.e. small numbers of foreign cells within the organism, is two-way mother-fetus transplacental trafficking during pregnancy. Here, the first report on coexistence of pregnancy-associated pemphigoid gestationis (PG) and progressive facial hemiatrophy, a form of "en coup de sabre" morphea, is presented. HE histopathology (eosinophil-rich...

QUESTION Some of my pregnant patients complain about pruritus. Are there conditions in pregnancy that present with pruritus that might put the mother or fetus at risk? ANSWER Although most cases of pruritus can be attributed to itchy dry skin, there are conditions unique to pregnancy that involve pruritus as a leading symptom. These include pemphigoid gestationis, pruritic urticarial papules ...

Gestational pemphigoid is a rare pruritic bullous pregnancy associated dermatosis caused by autoantibodies against placental and dermal collagen XVII. Clinically, it is characterized by severe pruritus and blisters on abdominal skin and extremities. Immunofluorescence analysis of perilesional skin is used in the diagnostics and maternal serum BP180-levels reflect the disease activity. Topical s...

High-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (hdIVIg) is being used increasingly for dermatological indications. Its mode of action is via a number of proposed mechanisms and it is not associated with the many side-effects of steroids and other immunosuppressive agents. The evidence for using hdIVIg in the treatment of autoimmune bullous disorders is based on uncontrolled trials and case reports. Howev...

Skin problems are common during pregnancy, but accurate diagnosis can be difficult. Skin changes in pregnancy can be broadly divided into physiological (box 1), specific dermatoses of pregnancy, and other common skin diseases in pregnancy. In our experience of pregnancy skin clinics, approximately 50% of women present with an exacerbation of a common inflammatory skin disease (for example, ecze...

Pemphigoid gestationis (PG), also known as herpes gestationis, is a rare pregnancy-associated autoimmune disease (Kanwar, 2015; Sävervall et al., 2015). Skin lesions usually begin as pruritic and urticarial papules and plaques that rapidly become vesicular (Cobo et al., 2009). The lesions start from the abdomen and spread to flexural areas of the skin, producing a pemphigoid-like disease. PG oc...

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) and pemphigoid gestationis (PG) are acquired autoimmune subepidermal blistering diseases characterized by autoantibodies against the hemidesmosomal proteins BP180/type XVII collagen and BP230. In the vast majority of BP and PG patients, these autoantibodies bind to epitopes clustered within the 16th non-collagenous domain of BP180. An ELISA system for the detection of th...