Herpes gestationis: clinical and histologic features of twenty-eight cases

Abstract

We have studied 28 patients with well-documented herpes gestationis (HG) to determine the frequency of complications and to review the histopathology, immunopathology, and clinical parameters of disease. The frequency of miscarriages and other maternal complications in our series was not extraordinary. Fetal complications were similarly limited. Less than 5% of infants had cutaneous lesions, and no other untoward fetal complications were apparent. Although the clinical features of our patients largely paralleled those typically reported for patients with HG, several variants of disease were noted. We report one woman with immunofluorescence-confirmed HG who had no clinical disease during a subsequent pregnancy. We also identified cases in which the characteristic vesiculobullous lesions of HG never developed. Instead, four women had urticarial papules or plaques throughout their clinical courses. HG was verified in these four women by typical immunofluorescent findings and by recurrent, classical disease during subsequent pregnancies in two. In addition, two women were identified with recurrent HG during pregnancies by different husbands.