[The treatment of cutaneous loxoscelism with dapsone]

Previous treatment of dermic lesions caused by brown recluse spider bite has given disappointing results. Cold, steroids and surgical measures are usually ineffective. Following encouraging results reported with the use of dapsone (4-4 diamine diphenyl sulphone) we treated 2 patients with severe dermic lesions. Both recovered satisfactorily. Thus, dapsone is an effective therapy for dermic lesions caused by brown recluse spider bite. The potential toxic effects of this sulphone derivative suggest that it should be used only in severe cases of the disease.