A junctional epidermolysis bullosa characterized by autosomal recessive inheritance of severe blisters and extensive erosions, localized to the skin and mucous membranes, resulting in a failure to thrive and that has_material_basis_in mutations in any 1 of the 3 genes encoding the subunits of laminin-5: LAMA3, LAMB3, and LAMC2. The Herlitz type is more severe than the related non-Herlitz type of junctional epidermolysis bullosa.