Dermatology
Pregnancy Dermatoses
Built from Dermatology, 5th Edition

What’s inside
9 sections · 75 slides
Overview and classification
Four look-alike, itchy pregnancy rashes — sorting out which is which, and why the sorting matters.
- Four specific dermatoses of pregnancy
- A confusing history, now simplified
- How the naming settled over a century
- Classification of the dermatoses of pregnancy
- Classification of the dermatoses of pregnancy
Gestational pemphigoid
A rare autoimmune blistering disease — the only pregnancy dermatosis that can also blister the newborn's skin.
- What gestational pemphigoid is
- How the immune attack starts
- Clinical appearance: umbilical blistering
- Disease course and flares
- Risk to the baby
- Pathology and the confirming test
- Gestational pemphigoid — histopathology
- Gestational pemphigoid — the confirming test
- Telling it apart from other rashes
- Treatment
- Using steroids and antihistamines safely
- Corticosteroid and antihistamine use in pregnancy
- Gestational pemphigoid — the wider clinical picture
- Gestational pemphigoid — tense bullae
Polymorphic eruption of pregnancy
The most common specific pregnancy rash — intensely itchy, but harmless to mother and baby.
- What polymorphic eruption of pregnancy is
- Why it happens
- Where and when it appears
- The polymorphic (many-shaped) spectrum
- As the rash evolves
- Pathology and how it is confirmed
- Differential diagnosis and treatment
- Pseudovesicles and thigh involvement
- PEP thigh lesions in lighter skin
- PEP thigh lesions in darker skin
Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy
No rash at all at first — just severe itch. The one pregnancy-itch diagnosis that must never be missed.
- What intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy is
- Who gets it: striking geography
- Why bile acids build up
- Clinical picture: itch first, rash second
- Jaundice and other complications
- Risk to the baby
- How the diagnosis is confirmed
- Treatment: lowering bile acid levels
- What not to use, and monitoring
Atopic eruption of pregnancy
By far the most common itchy skin problem in pregnancy — eczema, in women with an allergic tendency.
- What atopic eruption of pregnancy is
- Why pregnancy triggers it
- The eczematous form
- The papular form
- Diagnosis and outlook
- Differential diagnosis and treatment
Telling the four apart
A step-by-step approach for the pregnant woman who presents with itching.
- A structured approach to pregnancy pruritus
- Fetal risk and recurrence, side by side
- Dermatoses of pregnancy: fetal risk, newborn skin, and recurrence
- Diagnostic algorithm for pregnancy pruritus
- The four key clues
- Comparing the four at a glance
Pregnancy's wider effect on the skin
Pre-existing skin diseases that pregnancy changes, plus the normal skin changes of pregnancy itself.
- Pregnancy can improve or worsen existing skin disease
- Dermatoses influenced by pregnancy
- Dermatoses influenced by pregnancy (continued)
- Normal skin changes of pregnancy
- Physiologic changes during pregnancy
- Physiologic changes during pregnancy (continued)
- Pigmentary and vascular changes in practice
- Autoimmune progesterone dermatitis
Dermatologic drug safety in pregnancy
A quick-reference guide to using common dermatology drugs during pregnancy, lactation, and around conception.
- Using this reference
- Acne and hair drugs, systemic acne/hair drugs, and anesthetics — pregnancy column.
- Acne and hair drugs, and anesthetics — lactation, fertility, and FDA category.
- Antibiotics — pregnancy column.
- Antibiotics and topical antifungals — lactation, fertility, and FDA category.
- Systemic antifungals and topical/systemic immunomodulators — pregnancy column.
- Systemic antifungals and immunomodulators — lactation, fertility, and FDA category.
- Systemic immunomodulators and psoriasis biologics — pregnancy column.
- Systemic immunomodulators and psoriasis biologics — lactation, fertility, and FDA category.
- Psoriasis biologics, antipruritics, antiviral, and antiparasitics — pregnancy column.
- Psoriasis biologics, antipruritics, antiviral, and antiparasitics — lactation, fertility, and FDA category.
References
Sources cited in this topic, from Bolognia's Dermatology, 5th Edition.
- References
- References (continued)
- References (continued)
- References (continued)
- References (continued)
- Dermatology, 5th Edition (2-Volume Set)