Paronychia associated with antiretroviral therapy

We report six HIV patients who developed painful periungual inflammation of several nails during treatment with the antiretroviral drugs indinavir and lamivudine. The lesions appeared 2-12 months after starting treatment. The occurrence of paronychia in HIV patients has recently been reported in two groups of patients receiving either indinavir or lamivudine. Dermatologist s should be aware of this recently reported and probably not uncommon side- effect of antiretroviral treatment in order to avoid an invasive approach t o the nail lesions.