ABSTRACT
Buprenorphine is an orally available semisynthetic derivative of the opioid alkaloid thebaine that is a more potent and longer lasting analgesic than morphine. It is indicated for the treatment of moderate to severe pain, peri-operative analgesia, and opioid dependence. In pharmaceutical products, both buprenorphine and, in injection fluids, buprenorphine hydrochloride may be employed. Three patients using transdermal buprenorphine developed signs of allergic contact dermatitis with erythema, vesicles and bullae under the patches. Five older patients suffering from chronic pain had developed persistent, pruritic erythematous plaques at the contact sites of buprenorphine transdermal patches, and two of them also had a generalized skin eruption, considered to be systemic contact dermatitis. A similar case of systemic contact dermatitis from tramadol in a patient sensitized to buprenorphine was presented in the same year from France.
