[Cutaneous reactions to topical medications]

The management of patients who have developed a contact dermatitis due to topical drugs requires to stop the suspected drug application, to declare, if serious, the adverse drug reaction to the Pharmacovigilance network, to treat the patient with corticosteroid ointments, to perform dermatoallergological investigations e.g. drug patch tests to determine whether the adverse reaction was due to excipients or to the drug itself and at least to advise the patient concerning the avoidance of topical or systemic readministrations of the responsible molecule. An excipient responsible in inducing a contact sensitisation to an ointment can also be found in cosmetics. When a drug is responsible it is necessary to determine if cross-reactions with other drugs can occur and if the responsible molecule can induce systemic cutaneous adverse reaction if the drug is systemically readministered.