Campho-Phenique ingestion: an intentional overdose.

We report a suicide attempt with the camphorated phenol preparation Campho-Phenique. The total dose ingested was 68 mg/kg of camphor and 28.9 mg/kg of phenol. The patient had grand mal seizures minutes after ingestion. Supportive medical care and intubation resulted in full recovery within 12 hours. Although Campho-Phenique has been discussed extensively in the pediatric literature and its accidental ingestion by adults has occasionally been reported, intentional ingestion of the preparation has not been reported. We discuss our unusual case and review the literature.