The last decade has seen two significant advances in the diagnosis and management of pemphigus. The first was the recognition that acantholysis and the formation of intraepidermal bullae are invaluable criteria for the proper histopathological identification of patients with true pemphigus; the second was the advent of corticosteroids, which gave dermatologists, for the first time, a consistently effective means of therapy. Clinical results during the last 10 years have confirmed the observation that internally administered corticosteroids are the best agents for controlling, but not curing, pemphigus. Despite the many risks attendant upon long-term corticosteroid therapy, it remains the only really effective treatment for this disease. Our experience with the corticosteroid treatment of pemphigus comprises 50 patients who have been observed for as long as 124 months from the onset of their disease. The purpose of this report is to describe the clinical characteristics of this group of patients in whom