Feasibility and healthcare costs of superpotent topical corticosteroid therapy in bullous pemphigoid: a prospective, observational study in an academic centre in France

Abstract

Superpotent topical corticosteroids (TCS) were demonstrated to be more effective and safer than high doses of oral corticosteroids to treat extensive bullous pemphigoid (BP).¹ They are proposed as first‐line treatment for BP in the Cochrane review² and in European guidelines.³ In France, TCS are the recommended first‐line treatment for BP, whatever the severity of the disease.⁴ The objectives of this study were to determine whether TCS alone were actually used as first‐line therapy and could be successfully continued during the first year of treatment in routine practice, and to estimate the related healthcare costs.