Clinical Features:

• Well-circumscribed plaques, most often on the extremities or genitalia, that arise acutely after exposure to the causative drug and are sometimes accompanied by pruritis or burning
• If re-exposure to the same drug occurs, the lesions characteristically recur in the same location.
• Blistering may occur.
• Resolves with postinflammatory hyperpigmentation.
• The most commonly inciting drugs (among many others) are:
  • Barbiturates
  • Ibuprofen
  • Aspirin
  • Phenylbutazone
  • Sulfonamides
  • Tetracyline
  • Dapsone
  • Quinine
  • Phenolphthalein

Histologic Features:

• Marked basal cell hydropic degeneration with subepidermal vesiculation in later lesions
• Lymphocyte tagging along the epidermodermal junction
• Individual keratinocyte necrosis
• Pigment incontinence
• Mixed upper dermal inflammatory infiltrate consisting of lymphocytes, histiocytes, neutrophils and eosinophils

Cases associated with this book:

Fixed drug eruption
Author: Stephen Lyle, M.D., Ph.D.
Conference: DermatopathologyConsultations.com Teaching Collection

Fixed drug eruption
Author: Stephen Lyle, M.D., Ph.D.

Conference: DermatopathologyConsultations.com Teaching Collection