A NEW TOPICAL SPRAY AGENT TO PROTECT PATIENTS ON CHLORPROMAZINE FROM SUNLIGHT
IVAN W. SLETTEN M.D.1,
RAMON M. FUSARO M.D.2, , and
WALTER J. RUNGE M.D.3
1 Medical Director, Hastings State Hospital, Hastings, Minn.
2 Instructor, Div. of Derm., University of Minnesota.
3 Research Assoc., Dept. of Medicine, University of Minnesota.
This protective method will be of value in patients taking chlorpromazine. The aerosol spray is simple to apply and need not be applied more than once every five days once the protective filter is induced. It has protected patients who are on chlorpromazine, but whether it will be useful in protecting from other phenothiazine sunburn reaction we are unable to say. We expect that the broad spectral absorption characteristies of this induced topical keratin filter will protect patients who are taking other phenothiazines. Each spraying took only a few seconds; in our experiment we estimated that the total staff time per patient for the 4 months of the study was 30 minutes. This gave the staff more time to spend with patients as they did not have to seek every few minutes the patients who were on chlorpromazine to see if they were wearing their protective clothes. We found that this protection from sunlight permitted more freedom for the patients since they could participate in outdoor activities during the summer without fear that they would be severely sunburned.
