--- title: Acetaminophen Linked to Fatal Skin Reactions description: Acetaminophen is one of the most widely used medicines for fever and pain, commonly found in drugs like in Tylenol. On Thursday, the Food and... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7135737/acetaminophen-linked-to-fatal-skin-reactions/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-08-02T17:00:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T09:56:00.022Z article:section: Health og:title: Acetaminophen Linked to Fatal Skin Reactions og:description: Acetaminophen is one of the most widely used medicines for fever and pain, commonly found in drugs like in Tylenol. On Thursday, the Food and... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7135737/acetaminophen-linked-to-fatal-skin-reactions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a0c4e7c451b43e1/698a9294db2987b826271b61/173754116.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4287 og:image:height: 2411 og:image:alt: 173754116 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Acetaminophen Linked to Fatal Skin Reactions twitter:description: Acetaminophen is one of the most widely used medicines for fever and pain, commonly found in drugs like in Tylenol. On Thursday, the Food and... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a0c4e7c451b43e1/698a9294db2987b826271b61/173754116.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # Acetaminophen Linked to Fatal Skin Reactions > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=4c7ad5ab-ddf3-45ba-9607-ce078997fbac&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Aug 2, 2013 5:00 PM UTC  Pills Pills Getty Images—(c) stockcam by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Aug 2, 2013 5:00 PM UTC Acetaminophen is one of the most widely used medicines for fever and pain, commonly found in drugs like in Tylenol. On Thursday, the [Food and Drug Administration](http://topics.time.com/food-and-drug-administration/) ([FDA](http://topics.time.com/fda/)) [announced](http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm363010.htm) that acetaminophen is causing rare, but dangerous skin reactions in some people.more The popular pain-killing medication is linked to three skin diseases with symptoms that range from rash and blisters to more extensive damage to tissues under the skin. The two most serious skin conditions are Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), which will typically require hospitalization and can be fatal. The less dangerous skin disease is acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP), which usually resolves itself within two weeks once acetaminophen is stopped. Many of the reactions start with flu-like symptoms of fever and muscle aches, which are followed by rash, blistering and sloughing off of the outside of the skin, which can expose patients to potentially fatal infections. It’s possible for victims to experience scarring, skin pigment changes, blindness and organ damage. The recovery can take weeks or months. The FDA says anyone who is taking acetaminophen and is experiencing skin symptoms, should stop taking it immediately. (**MORE:** [Doctors Not Informed of Drug Side Effects During Sales Visits](http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/10/doctors-not-informed-of-drug-side-effects-during-sales-visits/)) “This new information is not intended to worry consumers or [health care](http://topics.time.com/health-care/) professionals, nor is it meant to encourage them to choose other medications. However, it is extremely important that people recognize and react quickly to the initial symptoms of these rare but serious, side effects, which are potentially fatal,” said Dr. Sharon Hertz, the deputy director of FDA’s Division of Anesthesia, Analgesia and Addiction [in a statement](http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm363010.htm). The FDA says it will require manufacturers to add warning labels to all prescription medications that contain acetaminophen and will work with makers of the over-the-counter drugs to do the same. The FDA discovered the risk of skin diseases while reviewing adverse events reported in its database between 1969 and 2012, during which 107 cases of significant skin reactions were reported, 67 people were hospitalized and 12 people died. It’s not clear why the skin conditions have not emerged as a health concern sooner, given how many people take the pain-killing medication. Health officials say it’s too soon to determine whether does is an issue, or whether the combination of acetaminophen with other ingredients or medications causes the adverse events. Often, such side effects only become apparent once a drug reaches market and is used by millions of patients, since manufacturers cannot anticipate every potential interaction between their product and others. For example, some statins, which lower cholesterol and reduce inflammation, were discovered to raise the risk of diabetes and other painkillers known as Cox-2 inhibitors were linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. (**MORE:** [How Our Web Searches Could Expose Drug Side Effects](http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/07/how-our-web-searches-could-expose-drug-side-effects/)) The announcement isn’t the first to alert users to the potential harms of acetaminophen. Two years ago, the FDA limited prescription acetaminophen doses to 325 milligrams per tablet or capsule to prevent liver injury. For now, the FDA says people using the drug should not stop the medication unless they develop skin symptoms. The side effects are rare, and for most users, the agency says the benefits of the drug outweigh its risks. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7135737/acetaminophen-linked-to-fatal-skin-reactions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7135737/acetaminophen-linked-to-fatal-skin-reactions/"},"headline":"Acetaminophen Linked to Fatal Skin Reactions","datePublished":"2013-08-02T17:00:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T09:56:00.022Z","description":"Acetaminophen is one of the most widely used medicines for fever and pain, commonly found in drugs like in Tylenol. 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