Current causes of fixed drug eruption in the U.K.

Sir, In every country, the causes of fixed drug eruption (FDE) follow the local patterns of drug usage; these change as old drugs drop out of use and are replaced by new ones with an unknown potential for causing this type of reaction. This study is an attempt to establish the current causes of FDE in the U.K. In total, 271 U.K. patients with FDE were traced, of whom 208 had been reported to the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) between January 1991 and December 1999. The other 63 had been seen between October 1997 and October 1999 by members of the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) who responded to a questionnaire on this topic. The drugs reported most commonly to the CSM in association with an FDE are listed individually in Table 1, and by group in Table 2. The most frequent causes of FDE reported by members of the BAD are shown in Tables 3 and 4.