Skin Turning Brown

[Mrs. Jones]

I have completed my first four chemotherapy treatments for cancer.  I started to take Taxol and Hercepton.  I finished 2 treatments, but my hands started to turn brown.  They looked like I was staining a piece of furniture.

My doctor stopped my Taxol.  I had a treatment of hercepton.  I am to return after a 3 week break.

I can't find anything in the literature to describe what has happened to me.  Has this happened to anyone else?

[Mrs. Jones]

Have additional or future side effects cited when there is a sensitivity manifested by skin color change?

[Cleveland Clinic]

Dear Mrs. Jones:  According to the prescribing information published by Bristol-Myers-Squibb (the manufacturer of taxol), there have been rare incidents of skin discoloration caused by hypersensitivity reactions as well as reports of skin darkening in areas that have been previously radiated.  Skin darkening can also occur with Adriamycin (which may have been included in your first four treatments) and usually fades over time.