Role of immunofluorescence microscopy in dermatology

This paper gives a survey about most of the dermatological and infectious cutaneous diseases in which immunofluorescence (IF) microscopy is an important, often decisive tool to reach diagnosis. In tabular form, bullous autoimmune disorders such as pemphigus and pemphigoid diseases, connective tissue diseases, vasculitides, mechanobullous disorders and cutaneous infectious agents and the respective IF findings are listed. Different IF methods and especially important aspects such as taking a biopsy at the right spot or how to send samples are described. Clinical pictures of a broad spectrum of cutaneous diseases are set in combination with the IF microscopic results and the value of special but still routine investigations such as the salt split skin test (SSST) or the antigen mapping (AM) method is demonstrated especially in a set of identical or atypical clinical pictures. Immunofluorescence microscopy has not lost it's value and should be performed in each dermatological centre in the sense of "Do not miss a diagnosis by not performing IF!"