Ultraviolet light in familial benign chronic pemphigus.

Ultraviolet light (UV) tests with high irradiation doses from a dysprosium lamp were performed on the normal appearing skin of seven patients with benign familial chronic pemphigus (FBCP). The skin of the patients showed a more severe vulnerability when compared with the reactivity of the skin of four healthy control persons. In each case the damaged skin of the patients had, in addition to the destructive features, the diagnostic histological acantholysis of FBCP. There was great variation in individual responses to the provocative irradiation and thus the test cannot be considered practical for accurate diagnostic purposes.