Case Report: Rare post‑booster pigment change – photodistributed hyperpigmentation reported after COVID‑19 vaccination
Dive into one of JDD’s latest case reports ! A 70‑year‑old woman developed a diffuse blue‑grey, photodistributed hyperpigmentation beginning months after her third COVID‑19 booster. She had no exposure to medications classically tied to drug‑induced pigmentation . Punch biopsy showed increased melanin (Fontana‑Masson positive, Prussian blue negative) in both superficial and deeper dermal locations, and laboratory workup was unrevealing. The authors stop short of proving causation but note the timing and absence of other triggers make the vaccine a plausible suspect in this rare, cosmetically significant presentation.
The practical message is to include recent vaccination and other nonmedicinal exposures in the history of new-onset pigmentary changes, obtain histology when the diagnosis is uncertain to distinguish melanin from hemosiderin or other pigments, counsel patients that causality may be unclear, and report similar events through appropriate pharmacovigilance channels.
Read the full case report for histologic images, differential considerations and suggested management strategies.
J Drugs Dermatol. 2026;25(1). doi:10.36849/JDD.9489
Blog write-up assisted by AI
