PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - C. Delage
AU  - R. Lagace
AU  - J. Huard
TI  - Pseudocyanotic pigmentation of the skin induced by amiodarone: a light and electron microscopic study
DP  - 1975 May 17
TA  - Canadian Medical Association Journal
PG  - 1205--1208
VI  - 112
IP  - 10
4099  - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/112/10/1205.short
4100  - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/112/10/1205.full
SO  - CMAJ1975 May 17; 112
AB  - An unusual bluish discolouration of the nose was noticed in a woman 9 months after she had begun treatment with a coronary vasodilator, amiodarone hydrochloride. Cutaneous biopsies of the nose were obtained 6 and 9 months later for light and electron microscopic studies. In the dermis were histiocytes containing cytoplasmic yellow-brown granules with histochemical properties of melanin and lipofuscin. Ultrastructurally the granules appeared as lysosomal membrane-bound dense bodies similar to lipofuscin. Similar granules were observed at diascopy in both corneas. The pathogenesis is obscure. A storage disease involving the drug or its metabolites cannot be ruled out. Another possibility is that amiodarone accelerates the normal cellular autophagocytosis, resulting in increased production of lipofuscin, which then accumulates in lysosomes because of a deficiency in lipolytic enzymes.