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Home :: Family Health :: Pemphigus Pemphigus - Pemphigus symptom, treatment, causes
Pemphigus is an uncommon. serious disorder of skin and the membrane lining the mouth, throat and nose, characterised by the development of blisters of various size on apparently normal tissue. Blisters often appear first in the mouth and nose, where they soon break, leaving chronic. painful ulcerated areas. Skin blisters appear later, and break to leave raw, weeping areas that eventually become crusted. The cause is thought to be AUtOIMMUNE DISEASE (in which the immune system produces antibodies that attack one or more of the body's own tissues).
Pemphigus mainly affects people of middle age and beyond. Diagnosis is by skin biopsy and detection of abnormal antibodies in the blood. Treatment in hospital is usually necessary until the blisters subside, with expert nursing to prevent secondary infection. relieve pain and maintain nourishment CORTICOSTEROID DRUGS, sometimes other IMMUNOSUPPRESSANT DRUGS and. in severe cases. PLASMAPHERESIS are used to suppress the autoimmune process. Low-dose corticosteroids may need to be continued for months or years to prevent recurrence.
Pemphigus vulgaris is an autoimmune skin disorder characterized by blistering of the skin and mucous membrane. Affected individuals have high concentrations of antibodies produced by the immune system. As with other autoimmune disorders, it is caused when the body's defenses mistake its own tissues as foreign, and attack the cells. This causes a separation between the layers of skin in which fluid subsequently accumulates, producing blisters. The introduction of corticosteroids in recent decades has turned what often had been a fatal disease into one that can be managed quite well. Pemphigus usually occurs in people between the ages of 30 and 60, but it also can affect children and older adults. Men and women develop pemphigus equally, and it affects all races and cultures. However, pemphigus tends to be more common in people of Middle Eastern or Jewish descent. Usually a chronic condition, pemphigus is best controlled by early diagnosis and treatment, which may include medications or treatments similar to those used for severe burns. Left untreated, pemphigus may be fatal.
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