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Dermatology pp 697–708Cite as

Pustular Diseases

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Abstract

One unusual feature of the skin is its tendency to form sterile pustules. Nondermatologists have often been taught to equate pus with infection and find the nonchalance of dermatologists’ approach to pus puzzling. While many bacterial, viral, and fungal infections in the skin are indeed pustular, there are also many patients who present with sterile pustules. The prototypical pustular disease is psoriasis. Presumably, a number of noninfectious triggers can also produce the appropriate cytokines for eliciting a pustular response in the skin. In this chapter, we will discuss the idiopathic pustular diseases, dividing them as shown in Table 16.1 into acral and generalized conditions while also distinguishing between the childhood and adult forms.

Table 16.1 Idiopathic pustular diseases
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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology and Allergology, Ludwig Maximilians University, Frauenlobstraße 9-11, D-80337, Munich, Germany

    Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c.mult. Otto Braun-Falco (Emeritus Professor and Chairman), Prof. Dr. med. Gerd Plewig (Professor and Chairman) & Walter H. C. Burgdorf M.D. (Clinical Lecturer)

  2. Department of Dermatology and Venerology, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, D-23562, Lübeck, Germany

    Prof. Dr. med. Helmut H. Wolff (Professor and Chairman)

Authors
  1. Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c.mult. Otto Braun-Falco
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  2. Prof. Dr. med. Gerd Plewig
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  3. Prof. Dr. med. Helmut H. Wolff
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  4. Walter H. C. Burgdorf M.D.
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© 2000 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Braun-Falco, O., Plewig, G., Wolff, H.H., Burgdorf, W.H.C. (2000). Pustular Diseases. In: Dermatology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-97931-6_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-97931-6_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-97933-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-97931-6

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