title: Many common drugs in dermatology are light, temperature, or moisture-sensitive.
abstract: Photosensitivity is defined as responsiveness to light exposure. For many common dermatologic drugs, proper storage conditions are essential for maintaining drug activity. Degradation and loss of activity can occur with exposure to light, temperature, and/ or moisture. For example, ketoconazole degrades after 24 hours of light exposure. In this article storage guidelines for common dermatology drugs are provided. We suspect that drug degradation is common due to improper storage and that improved patient instruction regarding storage will reduce degradation and alleviate some of the danger associated with improper storage and usage patterns.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Langner
authors.forename: H I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Maibach
mesh_terms: D003879:Dermatologic Agents; D004355:Drug Stability; D004356:Drug Storage / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D006813:Humidity; D008027:Light; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D003879:Dermatologic Agents