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Background: Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem disease which predominantly affects skin, joint, scalp and nail. Treatment strategies for psoriasis include topical therapy, systemic therapy and phototherapy (PT). Treatment usually depends on the severity, location and extent of lesion. Drug prescription studies are necessary for the recognition of areas for improvement and improving drug prescribing practices in hospitals. There are very few reports regarding drug prescription pattern in psoriasis patients. Hence we conducted this study.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 50 newly diagnosed psoriasis patients who attended Dermatology and Venereology outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital. The prescriptions from the patients were collected for the duration of 18 months and details of prescription were collected in case record forms. The assessment of disease severity was done by psoriasis area severity index (PASI) score.Results: Majority of the patients (46%) belonged to the age group of 41-55years. The mean age of the patients was 42.48±12.29 years. Most of the patients with mild form of psoriasis were treated with topical therapy. Topical therapy included high potency steroids alone or in combination with salicylic acid and calcipotriol. Patients with more severe form of disease received combination of topical, systemic and phototherapy. Systemic therapy included oral Methotrexate and phototherapy was given as narrow band UVB (NBUVB). Further long term study is required to for proper assessment of prescription pattern in psoriasis patients.Conclusions: Most of the patients with psoriasis can be effectively treated with topical medications, and additional systemic and/or phototherapy may be required only for severe cases.

Background: Urticaria is a very common skin condition characterized by recurrent, pruritic (itchy), pink-to-red edematous (swollen) lesions that often have pale centers (wheals). Histamine is the main mediator of urticaria and H1 antihistamines represent the initial and mainstay treatment of urticaria. The newer second generation H1 antihistamines are preferred over the older first generation H1 antihistamines as the initial choice of therapy due to its less sedating and less cholinergic side effects. Although numerous treatments are available for urticaria, there is little information about the prescription pattern for the treatment of urticaria. Hence this study was conducted. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 100 newly diagnosed and untreated patients of urticaria who attended Dermatology and Venereology outpatient department of a rural tertiary care teaching hospital. The prescriptions were collected for the duration of 18 months and details of prescription (particulars of the patient, diagnosis, name of the drugs, dose, route of administration, total duration etc.) were collected in case record forms. Results: Majority of the patients (34) belonged to the age group of 21-35years. The mean age of the patients was 34.35±15.26 years. Most of the patients were treated with oral antihistamines. Among oral antihistamines, most of the patients received 2nd generation antihistamines either as monotherapy or in combination with 1st generation antihistamines and H2 blockers. Among 2nd generation antihistamines, fexofenadine was prescribed highest either as monotherapy or in combination with levocetirizine and cetirizine. Patients with more severe form of disease were treated with combination of oral and parenteral therapy. Further long term study is required for proper assessment of prescription pattern in urticaria patients. Conclusion: Most of the patients with urticaria can be effectively treated with Oral antihistaminic medication, and additional parenteral therapy may be required only for severe cases of acute on chronic urticaria. Keywords: Urticaria, Oral medication, Parenteral therapy, Antihistamines

Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), also known as Lyell's syndrome, is a severe cutaneous drug reaction with a high mortality. Immune response is the possible cause in its pathogenesis. Levofloxacin is one of the most commonly used quinolones and has been reported to cause of TEN. On the other hand, furazolidone was proposed to augment the action of immediate hypersensitivity of levofloxacin by its cytotoxic effect and by the generation of free radicals. Here, we present a case of TEN where, levofloxacin and furazolidone were the probable cause of these adverse drug reactions.

Flagellate hyperpigmentation is a unique complication of systemic bleomycin sulfate therapy. It has an onset anywhere between 1 day and several months after administration for various indications and these eruptions are usually dose-dependent. The dose of bleomycin required to produce such an effect is usually more than 100 U but it can also occur at lower doses also. Herewith, we describe a case with clinical image of ovarian dysgerminoma that presented with typical linear and streaked pigmentation following a very low dose (30 U) of systemic bleomycin therapy which appeared within 24 h of administration and increased gradually after subsequent doses.