[Histology of supepidermal bullous dermatoses].

Subepidermal bullous dermatoses are a heterogenous group of disorders characterized by loss of tissue adhesion in the dermoepidermal junction and formation of a vesicle or bulla in the lamina lucida or under the lamina densa. These diseases can be classified into the following: 1. Subepidermal autoimmune bullous dermatoses. These are characterized by circulating autoantibodies against normal constituents of the basement membrane zone and include the following: Epidermolysis bullosa acquisita, bullous pemphigoid, dermatitis herpetiformis Duhring, linear IgA disease, herpes gestationis, cicatricial pemphigoid and bullous systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE). II. Subepidermal bullous dermatoses, due to mutation of the basement membrane zone proteins. These are epidermolysis bullosa junctionalis and epidermolysis bullosa dystrophicans. III. Subepidermal bullous dermatoses due to metabolic disorders: Porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT). IV. Drug induced Lyell-Syndrome Due to space limitation it is not possible to discuss the histology of all these dermatoses. I will therefore choose the most important of them and display their histology in detail.