THE INCIDENCE of pruritic polymorphic eruptions during pregnancy or in the puerperium is not very great, but the condition occurs with sufficient frequency to warrant study, especially since the hazard is great for the fetus.
Herpes gestationis, the name suggested by Milton,1 is the term generally employed today and does describe certain forms of the disease in which the chief characteristic lesion is herpetic. Allen2 used the term dermatitis multiformis gestationis, and Brocq3 employed the terminology dermatite polymorphe douleureuse récidivante de la grossesse, both of which names are perhaps more descriptive.
The greater proportion of the patients included in this study were seen early in the disease, when the symptoms were mainly pruritus, either localized or generalized. Early lesions, which were sometimes few, were small, erythematous papules and vesicles, initially 1 to 2 mm. in diameter, appearing in groups similar to grouping of lesions in dermatitis