Comedones following irradiation treatment

The first observation of an acneiform reaction to radiation was by Bluefarb in 1947 who reported a ring of comedos at the margin of a superficial radiation field [1]. These occurred 3 months after treatment of a squamous carcinoma of the face. Ronchese [2] confirmed this in three cases of basal carcinoma treated with superficial irradiation. Swift [3] reported comedones and pustules in the whole irradiated area of a female patient who had received orthovoltage treatment to the thoracic spine for metastatic breast carcinoma 6 months earlier. The patient was taking testosterone, an acneigenic drug, and had suffered from acne at the age of 14 years, yet the rash was limited solely to the irradiated area. Stein et al [4] were the first to describe a comedo reaction following cobalt irradiation in a patient who had also received steroids and isoniazid. Other reports of this phenomenon following megavoltage radiation have appeared. Table 1Go summarizes the literature on this subject and includes our case report