The red-pen syndrome

Pen torch test in patients with unilateral red eye.

The Pen

Red ear syndrome.

An otherwise healthy 39-year-old man, who denied history of migraine or chronic headache, presented with recurrent left ear pain. The first attack was several months ago, lasting for seconds only. The second attack persisted for 20 minutes, followed by the third episode several hours later. The patient attributed the last attack to be triggered by a violent movement of jaw while he opened his m...

The pen is dead. Long live the pen.

Red man syndrome

Vancomycin can cause two types of hypersensitivity reactions, the red man syndrome and anaphylaxis. Red man syndrome has often been associated with rapid infusion of the first dose of the drug and was initially attributed to impurities found in vancomycin preparations. Even after improvement in vancomycin’s purity, however, reports of the syndrome persist. Other antibiotics (e.g. ciprofloxacin,...