What it is
Behçet disease is a rare, long-term inflammatory condition of the blood vessels (a vasculitis) that typically causes recurring mouth and genital ulcers, eye inflammation, and skin lesions, and can affect many parts of the body.
Signs and symptoms
Positive pathergy test
A positive 'pathergy' reaction, where the skin overreacts with a small bump or pustule after a needle prick, is a characteristic finding.
Panuveitis
Inflammation inside the eye (uveitis) is a major feature and, untreated, can threaten sight.
Erythema nodosum
Tender red nodules on the skin (erythema nodosum) are one of the recognised skin features of Behçet disease.
Genital ulcers
Painful genital ulcers are a characteristic feature, often occurring alongside the mouth ulcers.
Recurrent aphthous stomatitis
Repeated crops of aphthous mouth ulcers are typical and can be difficult to treat when they keep returning.
Oral ulcer
Recurrent, painful mouth ulcers are the most common and usually the first feature of Behçet disease.
Treatment and management
What the research describes, not a recommendation. Treatment decisions belong with your clinician.
This covers treatments that appear in the published research mapped here. Investigational and experimental therapies are not included, so their absence is a boundary of this map, not a sign they do not exist.
Apremilast
Apremilast is a medicine used to treat the recurrent oral ulcers of Behçet disease.
Used to help with: Behçet disease.
“These ulcers resolved along with the systemic symptoms following treatment with colchicine, apremilast, and prednisolone.”
Turn this into questions for your doctor
The hardest part is often knowing what to ask. PatientLead Health helps families turn what is on this page into the right questions for their care team.
How to read the evidence labels
Where this comes from
This guide is built from 2 published source(s). Every claim above links back to one of them. Click any source ID to read the original on PubMed.