symptoms

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome Symptoms

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) is a rare hypersensitive skin reaction, usually to certain drugs. When someone first has the condition, they may feel like they're coming down with the flu. Flu-like symptoms will soon be followed by a severe skin rash and blistering of the mucous membranes.

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome Early Symptoms

The first symptoms of Stevens-Johnson syndrome create no reason for alarm. They usually appear between one and three weeks after taking the medication causing the condition. Flu-like symptoms might include:

  • Body aches
  • Fever
  • Sore throat
  • Headache
  • Cough
  • Conjunctivitis

Specific Symptoms of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome

These early symptoms are followed by a fast-spreading red and purple rash, similar in appearance to a bull's-eye. The rash will typically cover the upper body, face and neck and may appear other places on the patient's body. These bull's-eye-like marks on the skin

  • Spread
  • Merge
  • Grow large
  • Blister
  • Fall off

This skin is painful and peels off within one to three days.

Once these symptoms appear, their configurations, the rapidity and course of their spread and the blistering and sloughing of the skin tip the doctor off to the diagnosis. A cellular examination of the skin reveals that it is dying and this can confirm the diagnosis.

Stevens-Johnson syndrome is a at one end of a spectrum of hypersensitive skin reactions. The same disorder, when it becomes much more serious and lethal, is called toxic epidermal necrolysis. Together these conditions affect from one to five persons per million.

Treating Stevens-Johnson Syndrome Patients

Patients will usually require the type of care similar to the care needed by burn patients. They may be hospitalized in a burn unit. Great attention must be given to avoid infection, because the sloughing of the skin opens the body up to this risk. Fluids and salts are given intravenously.

Stevens-Johnson syndrome may occur more frequently in patients receiving bone-marrow transplants, HIV patients with certain infections, systemic lupus erythematosus sufferers, and those with other chronic rheumatologic illnesses.

Drug Reactions Cause More Than 50 Percent of Cases

More than half of Stevens-Johnson syndrome patients get the disorder as a result of a drug reaction. Drugs reported to be among the more common sources of the disease are:

  • Sulfa drugs
  • Other antibiotic medications
  • Drugs to treat epilepsy
  • Miscellaneous other drugs

Over-the counter drugs such as Advil® and Motrin® also have been reportedly linked to Stevens-Johnson syndrome.

Other causes of Stevens-Johnson syndrome are believed to be:

  • Graft-vs.-host disease
  • Infection (a particular type of lung infection or a certain kind of pneumonia)
  • Vaccination

In rare instances, no cause can be found.

More Information

For more information about the signs and symptoms of Stevens-Johnson syndrome, or if you would like to speak with an attorney about your specific circumstances, contact a Stevens-Johnson syndrome lawyer today.