[Chronic benign familial pemphigus]

A female patient aged 50 is described, in whom candidiasis of the large folds has been erroneously diagnosed for 10 years; the diagnosis has not been confirmed by bacteriologic analysis, the therapy has been ineffective, the recurrences developed every year. The patient has developed symmetrical erythematous infiltrative areas in the armpits, groin, and in the folds under mammary glands, with solitary bullae up to 0.5-1.0 cm in diameter, with transparent contents, with thin flaccid covers and fragments thereof, as well as small pigmented vegetation. Basing on the histologic findings (suprabasal vesicles above the basal layer, acantholysis in the epidermis, and negligible lymphocytic infiltrate in the derma), Gougerot-Hailey-Hailey's disease has been diagnosed. The familial nature of the disease could not be established. Therapy with diphenhydramine, methyluracil, dimocifon, aloe extract, and aniline dyes, administered for 20 days, has resulted in clinical cure.