S7C11P8-1: Pemphigus foliaceus is a disease in which acantholytic changes are manifested in the superficial unit (above the boundary between the basal and the superficial units). If the granular layer is affected, the cells often retain a polygonal outline and the granular cells show hypergranulosis. The acantholysis is recognized by the loose arrangement of some of the granular cells that project along the surface of the granular layer. The basal unit is hyperplastic. Both divisions of the epidermis are free of inflammatory cells.

S7C11P8-2: In this area, some of the acantholytic granular cells are rounded in outline and the cytoplasm is condensed (granules are more closely packed in the cytoplasm). Compact hyperkeratosis, as seen in this field, is sometimes a prominent feature of lesions of pemphigus foliaceus; the histologic patterns, in lesions showing such changes, have an ichthyotic quality.

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