Severe drug eruption from oral terbinafine for mild onychomycosis-A case report from family practice and literature review: "Just an innocent little pill?"

Roeland M Watjer; Just Ah Eekhof; Koen D Quint; Mattijs E Numans; Tobias N Bonten

doi:10.1177/2050313X241235823

Severe drug eruption from oral terbinafine for mild onychomycosis-A case report from family practice and literature review: "Just an innocent little pill?"

SAGE Open Med Case Rep. 2024 Mar 4:12:2050313X241235823. doi: 10.1177/2050313X241235823. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Roeland M Watjer¹, Just Ah Eekhof¹, Koen D Quint^{2

3}, Mattijs E Numans¹, Tobias N Bonten¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Leiden, The Netherlands.
² Department of Dermatology, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Leiden, The Netherlands.
³ Department of Dermatology, Roosevelt Clinic, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Abstract

Onychomycosis is the most prevalent nail disease and is frequently encountered in clinical practice. Despite having multiple therapeutic options, of which systemic antifungals are the most effective, treatment is not always mandatory in all patients. Especially when considering systemic treatment, the risk of adverse reactions may outweigh the potential benefits of treatment. In this case report, we present a clinical case of a 49-year-old male patient with a blank past medical history who experienced a severe drug eruption from terbinafine prescribed for mild onychomycosis that required discontinuation of terbinafine, additional evaluation, and treatment of this adverse reaction.

Keywords: case reports; drug eruption; drug-related side effects; onychomycosis; terbinafine.

Publication types

Case Reports