Drug-Induced Cutaneous Toxicity

Abstract

The skin is the largest organ in the body and is continually exposed to external stimuli, such as chemical and environmental substances. Cutaneous toxicity can be broadly classiied according to the mechanism of onset, namely: contact dermatitis, i.e., damage resulting from contact with a substance (irritant dermatitis, allergic contact dermatitis, chemical burns) photosensitivity, i.e., caused by combined efects of a substance and ultraviolet light (phototoxic dermatitis, photoallergic contact dermatitis) contact urticaria chemical-induced acne pigmentary disturbance drug rash hair disturbance nail disturbance or tumor-induced. This review outlines the function and structure of the skin, outlining characteristics of these types of cutaneous toxicity. In recent years, advances have been made in the development of pharmaceutical products targeting speciic molecules or genes and nanotechnology-based pharmaceutical products, raising concerns about the onset of toxicity by novel mechanisms involving new pharmaceutical products. Therefore, it is important to understand the basic toxicity-related changes described herein.