Cutaneous sarcoidosis during interferon treatment

摘要

To the Editor: We greatly appreciate the interest shown by Bitetto et al. (1) in our submission (2). It is remarkable to see that they have also encountered a cutaneous side effect of interferon treatment. Although the exact nature of the lesion is not clear because of the lack of biopsy, they concluded that it was probably a delayed foreign body skin reaction given its site. But we know from existing literature that it is indeed not uncommon to find isolated cutaneous sarcoidosis at sites of previous skin injury such as surgical scars, intravenous access sites and tattoo areas (3, 4). Prior literature also indicates that the sarcoidosis symptoms can appear during or immediately after stopping the interferon therapy (3). As both cutaneous sarcoidosis and foreign body granulomatous skin reactions respond to steroids (5), it is very difficult to pinpoint the diagnosis in the absence of biopsy.