Successful management of Hailey-Hailey disease with potent topical steroid ointment.

In order to know the real effect of steroid for Hailey-Hailey disease, seven patients were treated with strong steroid ointments in conjunction with antibiotics and/or antimycotic ointments. All patients were infected by various kind of bacteria and fungus. All patients showed remission within 2-16 weeks. Four patients maintained remission from 1.5 to over 4 years when ointments were continuously applied. No serious side-effects except skin atrophy and contact dermatitis were observed. These findings suggest that strong steroid ointment was really effective for this disease when secondary infection was prevented by the application of antibiotics and/or antimycotics, and that this disease is controllable with strong steroid ointments.