Resumen de Dermatitis herpetiformis as the only manifestation of celiac disease: case report and literature review

Valéria Sgnaolin, Vanessa Baldisserotto, Renato Tetelbom Stein

• AIMS: To present a case of dermatitis herpetiformis, a papulovesicular rash due to deposits of immunoglobulin A in the papillary dermis. This is a common extraintestinal manifestation of celiac disease, although rare in childhood.

  CASE DESCRIPTION: A 10-year-old girl was diagnosed with celiac disease, suspected only due to the occurrence of typical lesions of dermatitis herpetiformis. Intestinal biopsy demonstrated total atrophy of duodenal villi in spite of the lack of clinical digestive manifestations. Under a gluten-free diet the patient presented favorable evolution, with regression of cutaneous lesions.

  CONCLUSIONS: Dermatitis herpetiformis is a common manifestation of celiac disease, but is not frequent in infants. Therefore, is very important to investigate any child that presents a chronic papulovesicular cutaneous eruption non-responsive to usual treatments in order to perform a precocious diagnosis of celiac disease, avoiding its serious repercussions.