Phototoxicity & photoallergy of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

Sometimes medicines we take can react with sunlight to produce reactions in our skin. Such medicines include pain-relieving anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen and some patients develop a life-long allergy as a result. To find out if a patient has developed a photocontact allergy to a medicine, we carry out a photopatch test on them. This is not a perfect method, however and can generate a false positive result. The aim of our project is to better understand how we can distinguish between a false positive and a real result.