Facial angioedema in young elderly: Rare complication of rare drug

Abstract

Angioedema is an intense often disfiguring but temporary swelling of a localized area which usually involves superficially lying structures like skin, mucosa along with subcutaneous tissues. Areas which are often affected by angioedema have a wide range starting from the face, lips, tongue, pharynx, the supraglottic area and rarely, the subglottic area. It might also effect the gastrointestinal mucous membranes, genitalia, hands and feet. There maybe variety of causes for development of angioedema including various drug intake, insect bites or stings and certain types of food products particularly nuts, milk and eggs. Levamisole is known to have anthelminthic and immunomodulatory properties and is a common contaminant in cocaine due to its mood stimulatory action. Here we report a case of a 60-year-old female who presented with angioedema following ingestion of a drug known as levamisole for its anthelminthic activity.