Baboon syndrome due to a polysensitization with corticosteroids

Background. The Baboon syndrom is a form of systemic contact dermatitis. We report the case of a patient who presented a Baboon syndrom following oral medication with betamethasone. Case report. A 58 year-old man had consulted for eczema involving the groin, the buttocks and the axillae. it was clinically a baboon syndrome related to oral betamethasone (Celestene(R)) treatment, ingested 48 hours earlier. The exploration with a patch-test confirmed the sensitization to betamethasone. This exploration also showed a sensitization to all four classes of corticosteroids. Prolonged withdrawal of all corticosteroids led to the clear improvement of his eczema. Discussion. The baboon syndrome of this patient was the symptom of a systemic eczema due to betamethasone. The patient was sensitized by the percutaneous route. The application of many topical corticosteroids had provoked this polysensitization. It was impossible to consider a safe corticosteroid for this patient.