WARNING: Graphic images.
Doctors are warning against the use of a popular over-the-counter salve commonly applied to minor cuts and scrapes after a healthy woman suffered a serious allergic reaction.
The 28-year-old patient told doctors she applied Polysporin Complete ointment to her lips for a possible cold sore or eczema and to a small scrape on one of her fingers.
She arrived at an Ottawa hospital after her lips were swollen to several times their normal size for three days. The lips also broke out into a reddish rash with scaly plaque. Dermatologists said the inflammation was so severe that the woman was having trouble eating and drinking.
The woman also suffered an oozing lesion on the finger wound.
Dr. Carly Kirshen of the Ottawa Hospital and Dr. Sophia Colantonio of the University of Ottawa detailed the case in the latest issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
The woman was treated with a high dose of the anti-inflammatory agent prednisone, an oral corticosteroid, as well as a steroidal ointment to reduce the swelling on her lips.
“She improved back to baseline,” the doctors wrote in the journal. “We counselled the patient to avoid all Polysporin products.”
A patch test to determine the origin of the irritation traced the reaction to an allergy to lidocaine, one of the listed medical ingredients in Polysporin ointment used to temporarily numb tissue.
The prevalence of this allergy is said to be unknown. However, the doctors note that lidocaine ranked among the most common allergenic medications in a retrospective chart review at the Ottawa Hospital Patch Test Clinic.
Given the risk, they recommend using petroleum jelly for routine care of superficial wounds.
“It is as effective for wound healing as over-the-counter antibiotic preparations, and does not contribute to antibiotic resistance or allergic contact dermatitis,” they wrote.
