Facial Edema and Eosinophilia

doi:10.1059/0003-4819-103-4-503

Facial Edema and Eosinophilia

Evidence for Eosinophil Degranulation

Madison, Wisconsin; and Rochester, Minnesota

Abstract

Two patients had recurrent facial edema and peripheral blood eosinophilia. One patient showed a marked increase in the serum level of the eosinophil granule major basic protein. In both patients, skin biopsy samples showed nonspecific mononuclear cell inflammation with few eosinophils. However, immunofluorescence staining showed extracellular localization of the major basic protein within the dermis, similar to that previously shown in chronic urticaria and the recently described syndrome of episodic angioedema with eosinophilia. These observations provide further evidence that degranulation of eosinophils occurs in the skin and suggest that eosinophil mediators may play a role in the development of cutaneous edema.

Article and Author Information

▸From the Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin; and the Departments of Immunology, Internal Medicine, and Dermatology, and the Allergic Diseases Research Laboratory, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota.
Grant support: in part by grants AI 15231, AI 09728, AI 10404, and AI 15685 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and from the Mayo Foundation.
▸Requests for reprints should be addressed to William W. Busse, M.D.; Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin Medical School, H6/367 CSC, 600 Highland Avenue; Madison, WI 53792.