The deficiency in anchoring fibrils impairs the adherence between the epidermis and the underlying dermis. The skin of DEB patients is thus highly susceptible to severe blistering. Collagen VII is also associated with the epithelium of the esophageal lining, and DEB patients may suffer from chronic scarring, webbing, and obstruction of the esophagus. Affected individuals are often severely malnourished due to trauma to the oral and esophageal mucosa and require feeding tubes for nutrition. They also suffer from iron-deficiency anemia of uncertain origin, which leads to chronic fatigue. Open wounds on the skin heal slowly or not at all, often scarring extensively, and are particularly susceptible to infection. Many individuals bathe in a bleach and water mixture to fight off these infections. The chronic inflammation leads to errors in the DNA of the affected skin cells, which in turn causes squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The majority of these patients die before the age of 30, either of SCC or complications related to DEB. The chronic inflammatory state seen in recessive<unk> epidermolysis<unk>  (RDEB) may cause small fiber peripheral neuropathy (SFN); RDEB patients have reported the sensation of pain in line with neuropathic pain qualities.
Epidermolysis bullosa dystrophica
Epidermolysis bullosa acquisita
Dyskeratosis congenita
Epidermolysis bullosa simplex
Pachyonychia congenita
Dermatopathia pigmentosa reticularis
Erythrokeratodermia variabilis
Linitis plastica