Solar burn reactivation induced by methotrexate.

Solar burn reactivation, a rare and idiosyncratic drug reaction, has been reported with the use of a variety of drugs. This reaction is believed to be the result of exposure to ultraviolet light during the subsiding phase of an acute inflammatory reaction. It affects areas of the body that have been previously sunburned. We describe a 16-year-old girl who was receiving treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and experienced a second-degree solar burn reactivation reaction to methotrexate. The patient had a mild sunburn on her face and shoulders the day she went to the oncology clinic for her interim maintenance chemotherapy with vincristine 1.5 mg/m(2)/dose and methotrexate 100 mg/m(2)/dose. Three days later, she returned to the clinic with a 2-day history of fever (