TOXIC EPIDERMAL NECROLYSIS

Toxic epidermal necrolysis is a severe mucocutaneous reaction pattern characterized by fever, systemic toxicity, tenderness, erythema, and widespread exfoliation. Lyell1 of Glasgow, Scotland, and Lang and Walker2 of Cape Town, South Africa, independently described this syndrome in 1956. Lyell was responsible for coining the term “toxic epidermal necrolysis.” Toxic referred to a presumed circulating toxin responsible for producing both the prodrome and the eruption. Epidermal referred to the presence of significant epidermal damage with comparatively slight dermal reaction. Necrolysis was a neologism combining the pathologic finding of necrosis with the clinical finding of epidermolysis.1,3,4 Copyright © 1992, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved