The Inimical Repercussions of Unauthorised Prescribing: Binary Reports Featuring Cutaneous Adverse Drug Reaction

We present a couple of cases of cutaneous adverse drug reactions (CADRs) which occurred of late in our premises and were attributed to inappropriate use of OTC medications due to the fallacious prescribing by shop owners. The first case is an urban middle class middle-aged house-wife presented with significant cosmetic problems including hypopigmentation and telangiectasia over her face, along with patchy hypopigmentation over elbow. In the second case, an urban middle-aged man was prescribed an inappropriate regimen of nimesulide tablets and presented with maculopaupular rash in the extremities and erythema multiforme all over his body. Lack of legal supervision over ‘quack’ prescribing may lead to therapeutic misadventures which oftentimes remain undetected by pharmacovigilance programmes.