Iam an African American Male and I had the question of why my skin is turning darker. Iam about 3 shades darker than Iam supposed to me. I talked to my doctor and he wants me to change to epzicom. Does epzicom contain azt? What are some of the side effects of using epzicom? Will my skin lighten up if I switch? Iam very concerned because alot of people at work are noticing Iam getting darker. Is there anything I can do to lighten my skin up?

Thank you for your post.

Darkening of the skin is a characteristic side effect of AZT; it is particularly more troublesome among African Americans.

Abacavir/3TC (Epzicom) does not contain AZT and switch from AZT+3TC (Combivir) to Epzicom should alleviate your symptoms. One of the things that we have started doing in our patients is to obtain genetic testing (called HLAB5701 haplotype) to ascertain the potential risk of developing abacavir allergic reactions. Since starting this screening, we haven't had a single case of abacavir hypersensitivity in our clinic-- mirroring published reports from Candad, Australia, England and France.

I hope this helps. BY