Erythema nodosum induced by the synergism of acupuncture therapy and flu-like infection.

A 32-year-old female patient developed erythema nodosum-like lesions at needle prick sites after acupuncture therapy. Over the next few days, she developed similar new lesions over the extremities, trunk and face along with flu-like symptoms. There were neither genital ulcerations nor eye lesions. A skin biopsy specimen from an extremity lesion showed the characteristic findings of erythema nodosum. Treatment with oral potassium iodide at a dose of 750 mg/day was effective, and there has not been any recurrence to date. We diagnosed this case as erythema nodosum induced by a synergism between acupuncture therapy and a flu-like infection.