Which Therapy, and How Aggressive, for Ocular Pemphigoid?

Ocular pemphigoid is a form of mucous membrane pemphigoid. It is usually caused by immunologic aberration, but some occurrences are drug induced, and some are sequelae of Stevens Johnson syndrome (SJS). Patients may or may not also have extraocular disease of the mucous membranes or skin. Dermatologists may be called upon to treat even patients without mucous membrane or skin involvement, because ophthalmologists in many communities are not familiar with the initiation and monitoring of systemic therapies. Evidence favoring any given therapy is lacking.

These authors retrospectively analyzed the cases of 115 patients who received immunosuppressive therapies for ocular pemphigoid, including patients with ocular cicatrizing disease with or wit…