A review on botanicals with wound healing activity for pemphigus vulgaris: perspective of traditional Persian medicine and conventional medicine

OBJECTIVE: As a rare autoimmune disease, pemphigus vulgaris has a poor prognosis especially in lack of proper medical support. This blistering disease involves both the skin and mucus membranes. The challenge is improving the healing process of skin lesions of which, superimposed infections are among the main causes of the disease mortality. Accordingly, we aimed to assess the treatment options suggested by traditional Persian medicine (TPM) and compare them with current findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied the main clinical and pharmaceutical textbooks of TPM (Kitāb al-hāwīfī al-tibb, the Canon of Medicine, Eksir-e-Aazam, Tuhfat al-mu'minīn, Makhzan al-adviyah (focusing on the skin chapter and respective herbal remedies for the inflamed skin and ulcers. Additionally, scientific databases such as PubMed, Science direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar were searched for the current pharmacological evidence. In the studied books, the term “hot ulcers” was found close to what is known as “Pemphigus vulgaris”. RESULTS: Reported medicinal herbs possess anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, wound healing, and antibacterial activities reported by recent studies. Therefore, they could be introduced as novel natural remedies for pemphigoid wounds. CONCLUSION: Taken as a whole, the review of traditional remedies for hot ulcers in Persian medical and pharmaceutical literature may open a new window toward developing new topical treatments for this disease.