Alert issued on medical cream

November 12, 2011

Clients of registered Chinese medicine practitioner Sin Lai-sang should contact him or consult other healthcare workers for advice if they have been supplied with a topical application for management of skin conditions, especially eczema, because it is likely to contain an undeclared steroid dexamethasone.
 
The Department of Health issued the alert today and said the contamination first came to light in June when it investigated into a Hospital Authority referral of drug-induced Cushing Syndrome in a three-year-old boy who had history of using a suspicious topical cream Sin supplied. The steroid was detected in the boy’s sample.
 
Besides the possession of an unregistered drug and Part 1 poison, Sin was suspected to have been practicing Western medicine illegally, so the matter was referred to the Police.
 
In an August 2 raid on his clinic, Police arrested Sin and seized 166 bottles of the suspected topical cream. The department has received three similar complaints.
 
A high dose of dexamethasone can cause Cushing Syndrome, which leads to a swollen face, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, muscle atrophy, peptic ulcers and even osteoporosis.