Background: Nicotine was effective in the treatment of skin disorders attributable to neutrophils such as pyoderma gangrenosum and orogenital ulcerations due to Behçet's disease.
Objective: We assessed the efficacy of nicotine for treating skin disorders with prominent eosinophilic infiltration.
Patients and methods: A 67-year-old man with Kimura's disease was treated for 2 weeks with nicotine chewing gum (6 mg/day). A 50-year-old woman with erythema nodosum with eosinophilic infiltration was treated for 4 weeks with transdermal nicotine patches (5 mg/day).
Results: Both patients showed a dramatic clinical and histopathological improvement.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that nicotine may be useful for treating skin disorders with eosinophilic infiltration as well as neutrophilic dermatoses.
Copyright 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel