Addressing Drug-Related SCARs

By Archontia Palaiologou, DDS, MS, Phillip Crum, DDS, Jessica Owens, DMD


Severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs) to drugs occur rarely, but can be life-threatening. Approximately 3% to 7% of all hospital admissions or referrals from primary care physicians are made due to adverse drug reactions of the skin.1,2 SCARs to drugs mainly consist of Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS), toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) syndrome, and acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP). Each is categorized as a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction, although the immune mechanisms differ between the presentations.

* References can be found in the original article via the link below.

Read Article

CONTRIBUTE: Are you interested in contributing to the student website? Click here to submit an article idea!

Related Articles

Responses

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.