Discussing Treatment Strategies for Blistering Disorders, With Harrison Nguyen, MD, MBA, MPH

Harrison Nguyen, MD, MPA, MPH, sat down with the HCPLive team at the 2025 Society of Dermatology Physician Associates (SDPA) Fall Conference in San Antonio, to discuss his session ‘From Basement Membrane to Bedside: The Science & Strategy of Bullous Diseases.’1

Nguyen, who serves as a clinical assistant professor of dermatology at Baylor College of Medicine, spoke in previous interviews on managing chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) and cutaneous vasculitis.2,3 In this interview segment, he touched on bullous disease and provided tips for clinicians on treating various blistering disorders.

“If we in dermatology don't take take care of blistering disease patients who will and listening to disease patients can be it's can be really scary for patients and their families,” Nguyen expressed. “And we need to be able to recognize these, perform the appropriate workup, and then be able to get patients on the right treatments.”

Nguyen highlighted many different blistering disorders, noting the distinction he hopes clinicians will make between pemphigus and pemphigoid.

“The difference between the 2 has to do with where the antibodies are binding and causing the split in the skin,” Nguyen explained. “Is it intraepidermal, or is it subepidermal? Interepidermal is more suggestive of a pemphigus reaction. Subepidermal is more suggestive of a pemphigoid reaction. Bullous pemphigoid is probably the most common type in the pemphigoid family, and it can be really itchy. It can have an impact on quality of life.”

Nguyen noted the importance of identifying these conditions and getting patients on the proper treatments in terms of both controlling the disease and being tolerable and safe long-term.

“We received our first FDA-approved treatment for bullous pemphigoid, and that's dupilumab,” Nguyen said. “I highlight the data for why dupilumab received approval for bullous pemphigoid patients. What was important to see is that by treating patients with bullous pemphigoid with dupilumab, we may not completely take away other adjunctive treatments. We may still need to use corticosteroids from time to time, but it reduces the amount of corticosteroids that we need to use, and improves the patient's quality of life.”

Nguyen highlighted the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of dupilumab (Dupixent) as a significant success for the dermatology field and for patients with bullous pemphigoid.

“We need more tools for these forgotten diseases that patients really suffer from,” Nguyen said. “There are more treatments in the pipeline. We need more investigation into it, and hopefully can get more funding to investigate this. It's relative to some of our other inflammatory conditions, like atopic dermatitis or psoriasis, the number of patients affected by blistering diseases is smaller. But that being said, this is a tremendously impactful condition, and I hope that research will continue to grow for these patients.”

For further information on the topics presented by Nguyen, view his full interview segment posted above. To learn more about sessions at SDPA, view the latest coverage.

The quotes used in this summary were edited for the purposes of clarity.

Nguyen had no relevant financial disclosures of note.

References

1. Nguyen H. From Basement Membrane to Bedside: The Science & Strategy of Bullous Diseases. Presented at the Society of Dermatology Physician Associates (SDPA) Fall Conference, November 5-9, San Antonio, TX.

2. Nguyen H. What Are the Hallmarks of Cutaneous Vasculitis? With Harrison Nguyen, MD, MBA, MPH. HCPLive. November 10, 2025. Accessed November 12, 2025. https://www.hcplive.com/view/what-are-hallmarks-cutaneous-vasculitis-harrison-nguyen-md-mba-mph.

3. Nguyen H. Immune Pathways Driving Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria, With Harrison Nguyen, MD, MBA, MPH. HCPLive. November 10, 2025. Accessed November 12, 2025. https://www.hcplive.com/view/immune-pathways-chronic-spontaneous-urticaria-harrison-nguyen-md-mba-mph.