Allergic contact dermatitis to 5‐aminolaevulinic acid methylester but not to 5‐aminolaevulinic acid after photodynamic therapy

We report a patient with an allergy induced by photodynamic therapy (PDT) following simultaneous treatment with both 5‐aminolaevulinic acid (ALA) and ALA methylester (ALA‐ME). After several PDT treatments the patient presented with acute eczema of the treated areas and itch and hyper‐reactivity of the untreated skin. Patch testing demonstrated a strong +++ reaction to ALA‐ME only, indicating that derivatives common to ALA and ALA‐ME were not involved. This is the first case of allergy to ALA‐ME.

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