Lamotrigine and vitiligo

[Freda]

Has anyone taking lamotrigine noticed white patches on their skin? My daughter has been being weaned on to it for the past 7 months and has patches appearing on her face that are spreading, she has mentioned it to her epileptologist who doesn't know whether the drug has caused it or not but on googling many sites say it can although it's rare with only 0.01% of people being affected.

 

[Porkette]

Hi Freda,

When I was on lamictal I broke out with a terrible rash from the drug and had spots all over my face and neck that looked like small tiny pimples and they itched like crazy. I later found out I was allergic to the lamictal and this is what caused the problem. Your daughter may want to see a dermatologist like I did to find out what's going on for sure. I was given steroid cream to clear up all the spots and told to use only Dove soap for sensitive skin and I wasn't to use anything with perfumes in it because that could cause more problems. I hope you and your daughter can find out for sure what's going on. I wish the both of you only the best and May God Bless the Both of You!

Sue

 

[seetseet]

Hi Freda,
I was started on these meds not long ago and the neurologist said specifically to watch out for these rashes/pimples.
That is why they put me on a 7 week program to increase the amount gradually. I sort of laughed a bit when she told us and she got a bit cranky and said to my husband and i that this wasn't a joke, because the faster you up the amounts, the more likely (and severe) the side affects are.
And she also said to contact them at the hospital if they appeared...
I hope this helps

Sent from my SM-J330F using Tapatalk

 

[Nakamova]

Sue and seetseet, I think Freda is referring to something different.

Her daughter isn't suffering from the potentially serious red bumpy rash that can occur as an allergic reaction to lamotrigine, but rather from...
...Vitiligo, patchy white areas of the skin caused by loss of pigment in those areas. As Freda says it might be a rare side effect caused by the lamotrigine.

Freda, since vitiligo is an anti-immune disorder, I wonder if it's co-occurring with your daughter's epilepsy, rather than caused by the med? "autoimmune" epilepsy can occur with other autoimmune disorders like lupus, RA celiac disease, etc.
You can read a bit about it here:
https://www.epilepsy.com/Informatio...ent/disgnostic-evaluation-autoimmune-epilepsy
https://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-...osciences/new-approach-to-autoimmune-epilepsy

 

[Freda]

Thank you all very much for the replies and thanks for those interesting links Nakamova. I'll pass the links on to my daughter as it's very interesting reading and also she can discuss it with her consultant at her appointment at the end of this month. I'll update the response later just out of interest to people.