68-year-old womans arms and legs turn blue after taking very common drug

Willy Wonka’s Violet Beauregarde could start a support group.According to a case report in the New England Journal of Medicine, a 68-year-old woman developed “blue-gray hyperpigmentation” on her limbs just a couple of weeks after she started taking a common medication.The woman sought treatment after dark patches on her arms and legs persisted for six weeks.The woman suffers from rosacea, a common skin condition that causes the face to appear red or flushed — and wasn’t the cause of the blue hue.“Rosacea is a chronic inflammatory condition in which the skin appears inflamed along with evidence of acne-like bumps and textural change,” dermatologist Alicia Zalka previously told The Post.“Because the condition is multifaceted and is the result of the interplay of genetics, environment, vascular inflammatory responses of the skin, and even skin mites, there is no single cause of rosacea and similarly no single treatment,” she continued.

To treat it, she began taking 100 mg daily of oral minocycline two weeks prior.According to the Mayo Clinic, minocycline, a tetracycline antibiotic that kills bacteria or prevents their growth, is commonly prescribed to treat the acne-like bumps associated with rosacea.The drug — which is sold under brand names including Dynacin, Minocin and Solodyn — is widely prescribed to fight several conditions including acne and bacterial infections, like those that cause pneumonia.A recent study found that it may also be helpful in treating panic disorder in patients who don’t respond to psychiatric medications, including benzodiazepines like clonazepam.Minocycline’s side effects include dizziness, GI issues like nausea, headache, fatigue and skin sensitivity.

But hyperpigmentation — which can cause the skin to turn blue-grey or blue-black — is rare, impacting only affects 3-15% of patients.And it typically develops over months of treatment, not weeks.For this woman, the dark patches were initially isolated t...