[Cutaneous lesions due to lithium therapy (author's transl)]

We report two cases with adverse cutaneous reactions under lithium medication for manic-depressive disease. The first patient developed follicular keratosis, psoriasiform plaques and seborrheic dermatosis, the second only sclerotic plaques. Cutaneous side-effects that have been associated with lithium therapy include: acneiform eruption, pruritus, maculopapular eruptions, folliculitis, pretibial ulcerations, alopecia...and exacerbation of psoriasis. The exact pathophysiologic mechanism by which lithium induced cutaneous pathology is not completely understood. The various physiologic actions seem to be incomplete in substitution for other extracellular and intracellular cations and interference with cyclic adenosine monophosphate mediated processes.