Blotter's Blister

To the Editor: In a 30-year-old physician beginning the molecular-biology laboratory component of his fellowship, diffuse facial erythema and tenderness developed, with sparing of the periorbital areas, after prolonged scrutiny of DNA fragments in an ethidium bromide—stained agarose gel on an ultraviolet-light transilluminator. He had worn approved safety goggles during this procedure. Two days later, tingling dysesthesias developed over the bridge of his nose, followed by the appearance of clustered pruritic, fluid-filled vesicles suggestive of an eruption of herpes simplex virus (HSV). His history included episodic vesicular eruptions involving the lips, left upper eyelid, and left zygomatic prominence, usually after…