Hi all - yesterday I saw a mother of a 9 day old baby.  Mother was literally
covered in a patchy rash, advised that she was now recovering, but it had
started a couple of weeks before delivery on her abdomen and spread very
rapidly all over.  Intense itching.  She saw her family doctor, who sent her
back to her gynae, who tried to find a skin specialist and couldn't (all on
holiday).  Doctor finally prescribed Prednisolone and oral and topical
Phenergan (promethazine) and said if she ever found out what it was to
please let him know!

Last year I saw a new mother who developed something very similar after
delivery, skin specialist diagnosed Herpes Gestationis.  Later in the year I
cam across another very similar case, occuring in late pregnancy.  I'm
wondering if this could be the same condition. I was given the info that
Herpes Gestationis is a misnomer, it is not actually herpes, but an
auto-immune disease, usually occuring in pregnancy, occasionally postpartum,
causing an itchy rash, occurs in 1 in 50 000 pregnancies.

Can anyone give more info on this please - e g what it is, causes, usual
treatment, how often it occurs?  TIA

Pamela, Zimbabwe