Potential Adverse Effects and Drug-Drug Interactions

 In the development of any new medical treatment, adverse reactions must be investigated.

A systematic review by Derry et al (2009) investigated the adverse effects of using capsaicin cream over placebo when treating chronic pain. Local skin reactions such as “burning, stinging, erythema and puritus” were experienced by an average of 63% of capsaicin cream users as opposed to 24% average of placebo users. N. B. these symptoms were mild and transient.

Derry et al (2009) also found that other symptoms such as coughing and sneezing due to dried-cream inhalation were much less common. Symptoms manifested in an average of 9.2% capsaicin cream users as opposed to an average of 1.4% placebo users.

Much more serious adverse effects were rare and not statistically significant from those experienced by placebo users (Derry et al, 2009).

Another study by Babbar et al (2010) determined that capsaicin exposure through ingestion or topical administration is not sufficient to alter functionality of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes which metabolize other pharmaceutical medications used by the patient. This is beneficial because capsaicin treatments can be topically administered with none or minimal drug-drug interaction through CYP enzyme induction or inhibition.