Return to Division of Dermatology Homepage: 1996 Publications or DermWeb
Created: 03Dec96
Richard I. Crawford, MD, Elizabeth R. Lawlor, MD, Louis D. Wadsworth, MB, and Julie S. Prendiville, MB, MRCPI, FRCPC Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
We describe a neonate with hemolytic disease of the newborn in whom a photosensitivity eruption developed during phototherapy for treatment of hyperbilirubinemia. Free erythrocyte protoporphyrin and zinc protoporphyrin levels were markedly elevated during the neonatal period. Porphyrin levels were normal at l9 weeks of age. The infant had residual skin atrophy and showed clinical and radiologic evidence of kernicterus. The pathogenesis of transient porphyrinemia associated with hemolytic disease of the newborn is unclear.
J Am Acad Dermatol 1996;35:8334.