Medication related to pigmentation of oral mucosa

The diagnosis of oral melanotic lesions is, more often than not, challenging in the clinical practice due to the fact that there are several reasons which may cause an increase in pigmentation on localized or generalized areas. Among these, medication stands out.

In this work, we have carried out a review in the reference pharma database: Micromedex® followed by a review of the scientific published literature to analyse coincidences and possible discrepancies.

Our findings show that there are several prescription drugs that can cause pigmented lesions in the oral mucosa. This must be known by clinicians in order to properly diagnose pigmented lesions. We have identified a set of 21 medicaments which cause these lesions, some of which are used frequently in the clinic, such as Metronidazole, Amitriptyline, conjugated oestrogens and Chlorhexidine gluconate. We also found discrepancies with the data published in specialized literature, some of which wasn't reflected in the Summary of Product Characteristics.

Our work highlights the importance of the proper communication of adverse drug reactions (ADR) by health professionals in order to provide thorough and accurate information and diagnosis.