What medications make you sun sensitive?

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The phenomenon has a name, photosensitivity, and the FDA explains it: some medicines contain ingredients that cause a chemically induced change in the skin that makes a person sensitive to sunlight, producing sunburn-like symptoms, rashes, or other reactions from sun exposure that would normally be fine. The medicine list is long and the FDA names the regulars: antibiotics including ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, levofloxacin, tetracycline, and trimethoprim; antifungals like griseofulvin and voriconazole; antihistamines like cetirizine; and others from acne treatments to diuretics, plus alpha hydroxy acids in cosmetics. There are two reaction types: phototoxicity, the common one, an irritation that can hit within a few hours of exposure, and photoallergy, an allergic response that can appear days later. The reassurance the FDA offers: not everyone taking these medicines reacts, and reacting once does not guarantee reacting again. The practical rules while on a photosensitizing drug: treat sun protection as doubled-down, shade, hats, and broad-spectrum sunscreen reapplied, because some of these reactions come through window glass and clouds; check every new prescription and over-the-counter label for the sun warning; and if you get a blistering burn out of proportion to your exposure while on one of these drugs, that is a tell-your-doctor event, since an alternative antibiotic often exists.

What medications make you sun sensitive?

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