Drug eruptions

Abstract

Drug eruptions are common adverse reactions to systemically administered medications, with clinical manifestations ranging from local skin changes such as the fixed drug eruption to lifethreatening diseases such as toxic epidermal necrolysis. Such drug eruptions, in most cases, have been demonstrated to be mediated by immunologic mechanisms, and can involve type I (immunoglobulin E [IgE]-mediated), type II (cytotoxic), type III (immune complex), type IV (cell-mediated immunity), or a combination of multiple mechanisms. Certain drugs may be linked to specific types of drug eruptions (for instance, anticonvulsants are notorious for causing severe cutaneous reactions). There are predisposing factors that place a patient at increased risk for drug eruptions (viral infections, past history of medicament allergies, polymorphisms in human leukocyte antigen). There is a systematic approach to determining whether a medicament is triggering a drug eruption. © 2008 Springer London.