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Sarah L. Chamlin, MD; Shawn E. Cowper, MD; B. Jack Longley, MD; Mary L. Williams, MD
University of California, San Francisco (Drs Chamlin, Cowper, and Williams),and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY (Dr Longley)

Arch Dermatol. 2002;138:831-836.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

REPORT OF A CASE

A 5-month-old girl presented with generalized bullae (Figure 1). For 2 months she had experienced intermittent, localized, painful bullae in her diaper area. The bullae had initially been treated with topical mupirocin ointment, followed by a course of systemic antibiotics for presumed staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome. Several days before presentation, the patient was admitted to her local hospital for pain control and intravenous antibiotic therapy because of her poor response to oral antibiotics. During this hospitalization, she became more irritable and developed generalized bullae. A punch biopsy specimen was obtained (Figure 2 and Figure 3).

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

What is your diagnosis?

Diagnosis: Bullous mastocytosis.

The biopsy specimen showed a subepidermal vesicle, beneath which was a dense infiltrate of mast cells with monomorphous ovoid nuclei and fine granular cytoplasm. The . . . [Full Text of this Article]