Porphyria cutanea tarda, hepatitis C, alcoholism, and hemochromatosis: a case report and review of the literature.

Abstract

Porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) is associated with estrogen, certain medications, alcohol abuse, hepatitis viruses, and iron overload. Numerous studies have demonstrated an increased incidence of hepatitis C in patients with PCT; therefore, hepatitis screening should be routinely performed on these patients. On the other hand, although studies have long suspected hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) to be an underlying condition of PCT, many physicians have a low index of suspicion. Also, diagnosis of HH has been difficult until recently, when the gene mutation was identified. We present a case of a patient with PCT, hepatitis C, and alcoholism who was homozygous for the HH gene mutation.