Joly P, Roujeau JC, Benichou J et al.
University of Rouen, Rouen, France.
J Invest Dermatol 2009;129:1681–7.
Editor’s note: Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is a chronic, autoimmune, subepidermal, blistering skin disease. It mainly affects elderly patients and presents as pruritic urticated plaques and large, tense bullae. There is a high prevalence of neurological and cardiovascular disorders among affected individuals. BP is often treated with systemic corticosteroids, but high doses of such treatment have been associated with poor survival rates (
Arch Dermatol 1998;134:465–9,
Arch Dermatol 2002;138:903–8). Topical steroids can be useful and research has shown high doses of topical clobetasol to be even more effective than oral prednisone for controlling BP (
N Engl J Med 2002;346:321–7).