The relationships and the individual characteristics of the bullous dermatoses have been the object of increasing clinical and microscopic study in recent years. In spite of progress, much remains to be learned. Present criteria of differentiation overlap, and even break down, sufficiently to make the atypical case the topic of prolonged discussion. To add to this confusion, in December, 1956, Sneddon and Wilkinson1 described a process resembling dermatitis herpetiformis clinically but with differences which convinced them that they were observing a hitherto undescribed entity. Because of the clinical and microscopic features, they called the disorder subcorneal pustular dermatosis.
We present the case of a patient, which we believe to be identical to those reported by Sneddon, review the recent reports of similar cases and call attention to this dermatosis which, although seen and discussed at society meetings recently, has not previously been treated formally