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Hi,
 
The talk by Dr Joe Murray at the Celiac Disease Foundation meeting in June
included a description of dermatitis herpetiformis, which I haven't seen
discussed on this list. Here's is what I remember from it:
 
Appearance: He showed two slides of DH. One was scratched blisters making a
yellow crust on a red background, very colorful. The other was a batch of
hives on a knee. He said the second, hives, type was more common in males.
 
Cause: He said the cause of the dermatitis is pockets of gluten antibodies
under the skin due to celiac disease.
 
Key features: He said that the key features of DH are the burning
itchiness, the symmetry of the rash (both arms, etc), the locations
(elbows, arms, knees, back, buttocks and sometimes scalp) and the triggers
of the attack (sunlight, iodides, pre-menstrual hormones).
 
Treatment: He said that the treatment is the gluten-free diet for life and
taking the sulfa drug dapsone for a short time to control the itching while
it lasts. (He didn't specify how you know the when itching has stopped if
the dapsone is controlling it.) However, the dapsone has serious side
effects and someone taking it must have regular blood tests to monitor
them.
 
Dr Murray gave a wonderful talk of which DH was just a small part. If
someone has more to add, please do so, as this is from memory.
 
Martha Newton
Itching in sunny Los Angeles