Drug-induced skin reactions: A 2-year study

Background: The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with adverse cutaneous drug reactions, which occur when a medicinal product results in cutaneous morbidity. Methods: The study included 308 patients who were diagnosed as having an adverse cutaneous drug reaction during the study period (2007�2009). In 84 cases, histopathologic examination of skin biopsies were also performed. Results: Patients with drug reactions were found to be more commonly female (63) than male (37). Beta-lactam antibiotics were found to be the most frequent cause of adverse cutaneous drug reactions (42.7), followed by non-steroidal anti-infammatory drugs (16.5). Acute urticaria was the most common clinical presentation (59.2) followed by fxed drug eruptions (18.5), and maculopapular eruptions (14.9). Conclusion: Adverse cutaneous drug reactions in our study population were mainly induced by beta-lactam antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The most common forms of cutaneous adverse drug reactions were found to be acute urticaria, fxed drug eruptions, and maculopapular rashes. © 2015 Farshchian et al

Drug-induced skin reactions: a 2-year study

Mahmood Farshchian,1 Akram Ansar,1 Abbas Zamanian,2 Ghasem Rahmatpour-Rokni,1 Arash Kimyai-Asadi,3 Mehdi Farshchian1,4 1Psoriasis Research Center, Department of Dermatology, Farshchian Hospital, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamedan, Iran; 2Department of Dermatology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 3Derm Surgery Associates, Houston, TX, USA; 4Department of Dermatology, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland Background: The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with adverse cutaneous drug reactions, which occur when a medicinal product results in cutaneous morbidity. Methods: The study included 308 patients who were diagnosed as having an adverse cutaneous drug reaction during the study period (2007–2009). In 84 cases, histopathologic examination of skin biopsies were also performed. Results: Patients with drug reactions were found to be more commonly female (63%) than male (37%). Beta-lactam antibiotics were found to be the most frequent cause of adverse cutaneous drug reactions (42.7%), followed by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (16.5%). Acute urticaria was the most common clinical presentation (59.2%) followed by fixed drug eruptions (18.5%), and maculopapular eruptions (14.9%). Conclusion: Adverse cutaneous drug reactions in our study population were mainly induced by beta-lactam antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The most common forms of cutaneous adverse drug reactions were found to be acute urticaria, fixed drug eruptions, and maculopapular rashes. Keywords: adverse drug reaction, acute urticaria, exanthematous eruptio

Postherpetic neuralgia and recalcitrant cystic lesions following herpes zoster: A case report and review of treatment options

Acute herpes zoster lesions in most cases are self-limited except in older and immunocompromised patients, wherein the pain can cause significant suffering. Postherpetic neuralgia is a painful situation for patients that can compromise the quality of life. Here, we report a 30-year-old healthy young man who developed treatment-resistant postherpetic neuralgia after herpes zoster (fourth/fifth thoracic segment) without any underlying immunocompromised state. He also developed some cystic lesions, which were removed by aspiration and surgery. The skin lesions improved 2 weeks after the surgery and postherpetic neuralgia was completely cured after 5 months, however cystic lesions recurred multiple times and were excised completely during each visit. Postherpetic neuralgia has a significant impact on the health-care cost borne by the society and affected individual, hence, it is essential to select appropriate treatment to manage the pain of postherpetic neuralgia