My husband had an allergic reaction to using a triple antibiotic cream. How do we know which?

He almost died. How do we know which ingredient he is allergic to? The hospital phy. stated it was sulfur. But almost every bath soap, shampoo has some form of sulfur in it. We need help.My husband had an allergic reaction to using a triple antibiotic cream. How do we know which?
There is actually no way to tell with 100% confidence which of the ingredients caused the reaction. It is true that sulfonamides (and not sulfur) are one of the most common causes of allergic reactions when it comes to antibiotics but definitely not the only ones. Sulfur is a chemical element that has nothing to do with allergic reactions....Your husband will just have to avoid all 3 antibiotics and remember to mention them to all doctor encounters from now on. And by the way, topical creams/ointments containing more than one antibiotics are not a wise choice since they offer little additional benefit and higher risk of reactions secondary to multiple exposures; they also contribute greatly to the development of resistant microbial strains...





Since you mentioned something about shampoos and soaps, I would advise you not to use anything that contains antibiotic/antibacterial ingredients; daily use of such cleaning products may cause imbalances on your normal skin flora and gives you no extra benefit compared to the traditional shampoos/soaps....





By the way, the use of local antibiotic creams in general is a controversial issue in the medical world since there is no formal study comparing their effectiveness to placebo or systemic antibiotic treatment when it comes to skin infections. That is why whenever physicians suspect, want to prevent, or treat a skin infection prescribe systemic antibiotics (oral or parenteral)....My husband had an allergic reaction to using a triple antibiotic cream. How do we know which?
Stop all antibiotic creams.





Seek a Doctor's opinion. Ask them for a reference to an Allergist.





Go see an Doctor specialized in Allergies.
not sulfur, it' sulfa.


Sulfa allergy'; is a term used to describe adverse drug reactions to sulfonamides, a group of drugs that includes those with and without antibiotic characteristics. Antibiotic sulfonamides were the first antibiotics used to treat infections, although today are used much less frequently given their common side effects. Common sulfa antibiotics include Septra, Bactrim and Pediazole.


The antibiotic sulfonamides are different structurally from the non-antibiotic sulfonamides, and appear to be much more likely to result in allergic reactions. Many of the sulfa non-antibiotics, therefore, do not cause problems in people with sulfa antibiotic allerg
go to an allergist to figure out what he is allergic to, the allergist will ask what types of medication he was using to try to figure out what caused the reaction...


i am allergic to sulfa and still use triple antibiotic cream and show no allergic reactions
Has he never used that kind of cream before? Are his parents alive to give their input on possible past experience?





You may not ever find out which it is, unless he wants to go to the doctor and have a series of allergy tests. There is a way to detect many alleriges with blood tests, but some would be checked the old fashioned way, by sticking his arm with the substance. Thing is, they may not be able to detect what the specific ingredient is that is causing the reaction.





Sorry that I can't help further. If he had a reaction that serious though, he should definitely talk to his doctor.