Etretinate and AIDS-related Reiter's disease

We report a case of a 34-year-old homosexual man who developed Reiter's disease with severe cutaneous and joint involvement shortly after he was diagnosed as having acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Therapy with potent topical steroids and oral methotrexate was ineffective, but etretinate at a dose of 0.75 mg/kg resulted in rapid clearing of the skin lesions and a marked improvement of his arthralgia.