Abstract
For this article, a bibliographic review of pemphigus has been made, with emphasis on the types vulgaris and foliaceus, using several databases such as: AAD, UptoDate, JAAD, NEJM, ScieLo, The Bmj, IntraMed, BINASSS, MedScape; with the objective of updating the information on this disease, in terms of: epidemiology, etiopathology, most frequent signs and symptoms, most commonly used diagnostic methods and treatment. It is an autoimmune dermatological disease, its main lesion is vesicular-bullous with a background that could be erythematous or not. In most of the investigations, there is talk of no predilection based on gender, however, there are other studies that contradict it. Its two main types are vulgaris and foliaceus, which will be discussed in this review. In Costa Rica, it is one of the autoimmune bullous diseases with the highest percentage of deaths. The diagnosis is based in the clinical findings as well as in the histologic and immunologic findings as confirmatory measures. The treatment consists mainly in systemic corticosteroids, which can be used in combination with immunosuppressants or other drugs such as rituximab, in order to reduce the dosage of corticosteroids and thus their common adverse effects.