5-Aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy and isotretinoin for treatment of drug-induced acne fulminans in a patient with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.

In this work, we present a case of deteriorative acne that occurred during methylprednisolone and danazol treatment of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). Treatment of the patient with a combination of 5-aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) and isotretinoin was satisfactory, though the patient had platelets as low as 4-10 × 109/L during treatment. We consider that the combination of oral isotretinoin and ALA-PDT was effective in this patient may be due to the synergetic effect of these treatments. To the best of our knowledge, no such cases have been reported.