Autoimmune and other blistering diseases

There is a wide range of conditions associated with blisters (bullae) and it is important to identify the cause in each patient. If an autoimmune cause or epidemolysis bullosa is suspected, a biopsy will be required to determine whether the bulla is intra-epidermal or subepidermal. The diagnostic gold standard for autoimmune diseases is immunofluorescence which enables detection of autoantibodies and their location.