In a horrifying incident, a Brazilian woman lost 55% of her skin after consuming a common antidepressant. The 42-year-old was prescribed Lamotrigine, a drug often used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder, to manage her mood but quickly observed her skin beginning to blister and peel off.Upon reaching the hospital, her entire face was raw red and bleeding while skin from other parts of the body such as the neck, torso, pubic region and some limbs had also peeled away.
Symptoms and diagnosis
Initially, she was given antibiotics as the doctors suspected a case of “acute infection.” Whereas, later it was revealed that she was infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria.Medics at the Hospital Beneficência Portuguesa de São Paulo in Brazil diagnosed her with Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrosis (TEN). Both conditions are serious reactions to medications which lead the skin to break out with “painful blisters” and “detach” from the body.“Swift diagnosis followed by management of the damaged epidermis is vital to prevent further infection, which if left untreated can become life-threatening,” experts wrote in the Journal of Surgical Case Reports.The patient’s symptoms began two to three weeks before she was admitted to the hospital. She broke out with lesions which gradually worsened until she was taken into the ICU for urgent treatment. Along with blisters, she also experienced severe swelling across her body.
Healing with sheep tissue
In order to treat the severe burns, doctors applied grafts made from the stomach tissue of a sheep, called ovine forestomach matrix (OFT) to her face in order to heal the wounds quickly.After applying them five times over a period of 17 days, medics noted that the inflammation was “markedly reduced” and thus used the method on the rest of her body. They noted the skin became visibly less inflamed and scarred with frequent application.
What is Stevens-Johnson syndrome?
Previously known as Lyell Syndrome, Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) are variants of the same condition. It is a rare, acute, serious and potentially fatal skin reaction caused by medications 80% of the time.Anticonvulsants such as lamotrigine and phenytoin, allopurinol, antibiotics, paracetamol, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) are among the drugs that most commonly cause the syndrome, as per the National Library of Medicine.It is more likely to begin in the first eight weeks of taking medications and symptoms typically begin with headaches, joint pain and cough, followed by a rash, according to the NHS.