The differential diagnosis of neonatal blistering skin disorders includes both infectious and non-infectious conditions. Neonatal sucking blisters appear as unilateral or bilaterally symmetrical bullae or erosions involving the distal upper extremities at birth that can be differentiated from more serious neonatal blistering disorders on history and clinical examination alone. Recognizing this benign self-limited condition avoids unnecessary tests and alleviates anxiety on the part of the infants' family and physicians.
MurphyWF, LangleyAL: Common bullous lesions-presumably self-inflicted-occurring in utero in the newborn infant Pediatrics1963, 32: 1099–1101.
2.
FriedenIL: The dermatologist in the newborn nursery: approach to the neonate with blisters, pustules, erosions and ulcerations. Curr Probl Dermatol IV1992; 4:123–168.
3.
EvanJR, AllenAC, StinsonDA, et al: Perinatal listeriosis: report of an outbreak. Pediatr Infect Dis4: 237–241, 1985.
4.
HedertAA, EsterlyNB: Bacterial and candidal cutaneous infections in the neonate. Dermatol Clin1986;4:3–21.
