Section : Articles

Alcohol-induced vasculitis

Alcohol-induced vasculitis: case report and commentary.

Abuabara K, Samimi S, Chu EY, Bluebond ND, James WD, Merkel PA.

J Am Acad Dermatol. 2014 Feb;70(2):e42-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2013.10.014.

  • In this interesting case report, the authors depict the story of a 26 year old woman developing erythematous macules and papules occuring a few hours after consuming an alcoholic beverage.
  • The lesions go away spontaneously a few days later.
  • A few hours after giving alcohol, the authors performed a biopsy which came out as a vasculitis.
  • After hypothesizing how the vasculitis appears, a comparison with drug-induced vasculitis is made.
  • Although the cause is unknown, indirect rather than a direct effect of alcohol is more in play. Indeed our findings that alcohol can induce many diseases: Cirrhosis, Infections, Jaundice (Icterus), Malnutrition, Pancreatitis, Porphyria Cutanea Tarda, Pruritus (Itch), Skin Aging, Skin Cancer, Urticaria and Anaphylactoid reactions.

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Contributors

Dr Christophe Hsu – dermatologist. Geneva, Switzerland