If you have persistent skin or mouth erosions that don’t heal or if you have already seen a GP or nurse who thinks you might have pemphigus, ask your GP to refer you urgently to a hospital dermatologist so a definitive diagnosis can be made.

If you have already been given a diagnosis of pemphigus vulgaris by your hospital consultant (probably a dermatologist, but possibly an ENT, oral medicine or maxillo-facial consultant), you may want to ask what the future treatment plan is. But remember it’s virtually impossible for a doctor to know in advance which drugs will work best for you, or how long it will take to get the disease controlled. You’ll probably need to see your GP separately to talk about your general health.

At this stage you may well have lots of questions. Remember you can use this web site to get information or contact a patient support group (see ‘Where can I get more information?’).

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