Perioral dermatitis -- the role of nasal steroids

We present two patients with allergic rhinitis who developed perioral dermatitis (PD) after initiating intranasal steroid spray. Both patients had been previously misdiagnosed as having contact or seborrheic dermatitis, and therefore inappropriately and unsuccessfully treated with topical steroids. Physicians should be aware of this potential side effect of intranasal steroids to avoid incorrect therapeutic measures. In the setting of nasal steroids use, PD probably is an under-reported and commonly misdiagnosed condition that should be thought when a patient treated with nasal steroids present with small erythematous papules, papulovesicles, and papulopustules occurring against a background of redness, beginning in the nasolabial areas and spreading rapidly to the perioral zone.