PURPOSE To understand the underlying mechanisms responsible for the easy removal and sloughing of corneal epithelium in vitamin A deficiency. METHODS An animal model of vitamin A deficiency, the vitamin A-deficient rat (A-rat), transmission electron microscopy, computer-assisted morphometric analysis and indirect immunofluorescence were used to study the adhesion of rat corneal epithelium to ...

PURPOSE Surgical operation for bullous emphysema is indicated for patients with symptoms related to the compression of giant bullae (usually >30% of hemithorax) or other related complications, such as infection, rupture, or bleeding. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has been widely applied in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with intrathoracic diseases, including bullous emphy...

Peripheral blood lymphocytes from both drug-induced immediate and delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions frequently can be stimulated in vitro with the particular culprit drug. Immunohistochemical analysis has identified CD8+ T cells as the predominant epidermal T-cell subset in drug-induced maculopapular and bullous eruptions and in patch-test reactions to beta-lactam antibiotics. Beta-l...

Bullous Diseases Unit at the 2nd Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki was founded with the aim to provide the optimal diagnostic approach and treatment of patients with autoimmune bullous diseases (AΙBD). We processed all AIBD files of patients diagnosed from 2011 to 2014 in order to record all epidemiological data and therapeutic manipulations during ...

sarcoidosis. Thorax 1986; 41: 792–797. 5 Pena CM, Cosgrove DM, Eng P, et al. Bullectomies for bullous sarcoidosis. Cleve Clin J Med 1993; 60: 157–160. 6 Froudarakis ME, Bouros D, Voloudaki A, et al. Pneumothorax as a first manifestation of sarcoidosis. Chest 1997; 112: 278–280. 7 Judson MA, Strange C. Bullous sarcoidosis: a report of three cases. Chest 1998; 114: 1474–1478. 8 Kumar PD, Epstein ...

PURPOSE To evaluate histological changes in the corneal stroma in pseudophakic bullous keratopathy. METHODS Twenty-eight patients (28 eyes) with pseudophakic bullous keratopathy underwent therapeutic penetrating keratoplasty at Shandong Eye Institute between January 2006 and November 2011. The patients were divided into two groups according to the duration of bullous keratopathy (<1.0 year gr...

Autoimmune bullous disorders are a group of severe skin diseases characterized clinically by blisters and erosions of skin and/or mucous membranes. A hallmark of these disorders is the presence of IgG and occasionally IgA autoantibodies that target distinct adhesion structures of the epidermis, dermoepidermal basement membrane, and anchoring fibrils of the dermis. This Review focuses on the pot...

Linear IgA dermatosis or chronic bullous disease of childhood (CBDC) is a nonhereditary, autoimmune subepidermal bullous disease, characterized by the presence of continuous linear deposits of IgA autoantibodies along the basement membrane zone. Antigens mainly involved in the pathogenesis of CBDC are a 97-kDa and a 120 –kDa protein, which represent fragments of the extracellular domain of coll...

BACKGROUND Human amnion membrane (HAM) was suggested to be a superior antigenic substrate for immunoblotting in detecting autoantibodies of autoimmune bullous skin diseases. OBJECTIVES To determine the properties of HAM as an antigenic substrate for the detection of autoantibodies in pemphigus vulgaris and bullous pemphigoid. METHODS Immunomapping and tandem liquid chromatography mass spect...

PURPOSE To determine clinical features of patients with severe chronic central serous chorioretinopathy (diffuse retinal pigment epitheliopathy, DRPE) associated with bullous retinal detachment in Thailand. METHODS The authors reviewed clinical and imaging characteristics, visual outcomes, and complications of 7 patients with severe DRPE associated with bullous retinal detachment. RESULTS I...