Polymorphous light eruption. A seven-year follow-up evaluation of 114 patients.

Of 138 patients with polymorphous light eruption originally investigated in 1972, one hundred fourteen were contacted seven years later (1979), and 47 subjected to a clinical and laboratory reevaluation. Sixty-four of the 114 patients (57%) described a diminution of sun-related skin complaints, including 12 patients who reported a total freedom from sun sensitivity during the previous two years. In contrast, two patients who in 1972 had claimed temporary freedom from sun sensitivity had again noted their reactions to sunlight by 1979. In five of 43 cases examined at uninvolved skin sites, weak (1+) positive direct immunofluorescence staining for basement membrane zone immunoglobulins was reported by both laboratories employed in this study. Low or moderate antinuclear antibody serum titers were found in nine patients. No patient, however, met diagnostic criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus.