All medications come with possible side effects, with Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) being one of the most devastating.

SJS is an extremely rare condition that causes the skin to burn from the inside out, producing skin blisters and lesions in mucous membranes such as the eyes, mouth, throat and genitals. Since few physicians have experience with SJS, and due to its fast progression, a misdiagnosis could lead to a fatality.

Approximately 300 cases of Stevens Johnson Syndrome are diagnosed per year in the United States in both children and adults. The reaction can be caused by medication, especially if the patient has a history of drug sensitivity. However, no amount of preparation readies the patient or the physician when SJS occurs, and victims are often left in fear of recurrence.

In a recent case of Stevens Johnson Syndrome, a young mother from California was forced away from her baby just before Christmas in 2014. Yassmeen C. had to be hospitalized due to the severe burns that developed on her body, and had to receive skin grafts to replace lost flesh. According to ABC News, she had taken a friend’s leftover antibiotic medication after feeling ill from Thanksgiving.

Almost as soon as she took the antibiotic, Yassmeen started feeling burning sensations in her eyes, nose, and throat. Upon being hospitalized, SJS skin lesions started appearing all over her body and her condition quickly worsened. Her mother reported that Yasmeen’s skin would just start falling off, and she developed a serious fever.

Doctors at the University of Irvine reported that over 70% of Yassmeen’s body had been covered in burn-like blisters, which would evolve her SJS into Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN). Unlike SJS that can cover up to 30% of the body in skin lesions, TEN can consume as much as 90%.

Overview of Stevens Johnson Syndrome Complications

Those who are diagnosed with Stevens Johnson Syndrome often have to be treated in the burn units of hospitals, because skin grafts are often needed to replenish lost skin.

Since her diagnosis, Yassmeen has had to undergo multiple surgeries and had to be fed through a ventilation tube. Overall, doctors state that Yassmeen will most likely survive this ordeal but will have to deal with the skin scarring for the rest of her life. As severe as the side effects Yassmeen endured were, many have suffered worse from this condition and were not able to live to tell the tale.

While it is true that Yassmeen had taken a prescription medication that was not intended for her, the doctors treating her stated that SJS occurs almost randomly. Currently, medical experts are unsure as to why SJS only occurs in some patients and not all, but suspect that certain genetic traits are more vulnerable to Stevens Johnson Syndrome than others. Additionally, the chances of SJS occurring increase if the patient is taking more than one medication or has any drug allergies.

Due to the fact that there is no way to predict if Stevens Johnson Syndrome will occur, healthcare providers recommend that pharmaceutical companies include SJS side effects on any medications that have been indicated to cause such a reaction. However due to the rarity of this condition, many drug companies often do not include this side effect due to the unlikelihood of the patient experiencing it, and to protect the drug’s market value.

Luckily, tell-tale signs of the condition do exist before the lesions rear their ugly head.

Medical experts warn that if patients will come down with SJS, it will be within the first two to eight weeks of starting the medication, and will start with flu-like symptoms. However, these warnings do not protect patients from Stevens Johnson Syndrome, which makes drug safety labels vital in preventing patients from suffering this reaction.

Many patients who have suffered SJS have filed legal action against the pharmaceutical companies who made the drug in question, and have stated that they never would have taken the medication if they had known about the possibility of SJS occurring.