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Pigment Changes and Drug Reactions

  • Chapter
Cutaneous Drug Eruptions

Abstract

Medications have long been known to cause pigmentary changes of the skin. While this frequently occurs as post-inflammatory changes of a resolving drug-induced rash, medications can also directly promote dyspigmentation through stimulation of melanin production and/or deposition of drug (or drug metabolite) within the skin. Medications can also cause hypo- or depigmentation. Drug-induced pigmentary changes depend on factors such as the particular drug (or heavy metal) and level of deposition or melanocyte stimulation (or inhibition of melanogenesis). Drug-induced dyschromias have historically been categorized in a medication-class based manner. Because the clinician is generally faced with a patient whose chief complaint is dyspigmentation (which comes in varying shades), we propose a color-based approach for understanding drug-induced dyschromias.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Richard A. Johnson (Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA) for graciously providing clinical images and for his mentorship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St., Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Shinjita Das MD & A. Shadi Kourosh MD

  2. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    A. Shadi Kourosh MD

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  1. Shinjita Das MD
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Correspondence to A. Shadi Kourosh MD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Kansas City, Kansas, USA

    John C. Hall

  2. Miraca Life Sciences, Irving, Texas, USA

    Brian J. Hall

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Das, S., Kourosh, A.S. (2015). Pigment Changes and Drug Reactions. In: Hall, J., Hall, B. (eds) Cutaneous Drug Eruptions. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-6729-7_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-6729-7_9

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