Fixed drug eruption by etoricoxib confirmed by patch test*

Aline Soares de Sousa, José Carlos Cardoso, Miguel Pinto Gouveia, Ana Rita Gameiro, Vera Barreto Teixeira, Maria Gonçalo

Non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs, followed by antibiotics, are the main causes of fixed drug eruption. They provoke one or several round erythematous or bullous lesions that recur in the same place after taking the causative medication. A positive patch test on residual, lesional skin can replace satisfactorily oral reintroduction. We describe the case of a 74-year-old woman with numerous, rounded, erythematous lesions on the trunk and recurrent blistering on the fifth right-hand finger, which developed a few hours after taking etoricoxib. Lesional patch testing with etoricoxib was positive and reproduced the typical pattern of a fixed drug eruption upon histopathology. We emphasize the specific reactivity of the etoricoxib patch test, and the capacity to reproduce the histologic pattern of the reaction.