Possibly DH? Celiac?

[Laurenburk421]

I'm 27 and have been experiencing blister rashes since 2012 (when I first noticed) I also observed they were exacerbated during times of high stress...looking back I was most likely eating "feel good" foods during those times. It mostly appears on my shins, incredibly itched and after much research presents almost exactly like DH. 

I've done my own experiments, when i stop eating gluten, rashes go away. Reintroduce, they come back. But it comes back sporadically. Days after eating very little with a strong reaction. Or immediate with a small reaction. It's never the same. I have no digestive issues.

I have a distant cousin w Celiac and my mother has throid issues. Should I go to the dermatologist or internal medicine doctor to be diagnosed? Or should I continue to eat gluten-free with no diagnosis? Help?! 

[GFinDC]

Hi, You could try a dermatologist first.  But make sure to check around and find one who is experienced with celiac disease.  The test for DH is to take a small skin biopsy from next to a lesion, not on the lesion.  Then they check it for IgA antibodies.  For the regular (non-DH) celiac testing, they take blood samples for  antibody testing.  They call it a celiac panel.  Then they do an endoscopy to take biopsy samples of the small intestine lining.  They check those biopsies for celiac type damage.  For the regular testing a gluten challenge of eating gluten for 12 weeks for the blood tests and 2 weeks for the endoscopy is recommended.

I don't know if they recommend a similar period of eating gluten before the skin biopsy.  But I do know that people with DH sometimes don't have positive blood tests.  It seems the antibodies are in their skin instead of their blood.