Bath Salts as Designer Drugs and Necrotizing Fasciitis- a Strange Combination

Bath salt- not just for the bath tub anymore

I am spending the week covering our orthopedic infectious diseases consult service, thus, I felt that the focus of this blog post was appropriate.


I came across a headline today on bath salts as the cause of necrotizing fasciitis, known in the vernacular as the flesh eating bacteria. Necrotizing fasciitis is a life threatening infection of the skin and soft tissue resulting in septic shock and even death.  In the journal, Orthopedics, a case of necrotizing fasciiitis following 'bath salts' injection into an arm is reported. 

Working in an urban hospital and in an clinic, I pride myself in having learned much of the drug lingo from my patients during the course of our medical encounters. 'Bath salts' as a street drug was new to me. A quick cross reference of 'Bath Salt' in the Urban Dictionary proved enlightening. Bath salt is a new, designer drug.  It is a synthetic, stimulant powder product that contains amphetamine-like chemicals, including mephedrone. These chemicals produce excitement, and have side effects such as rebound depression, paranoia and psychosis. Brand names include Blizzard, Blue Silk, Charge+, Ivory Snow, Ivory Wave, Ocean Burst, Pure Ivory, Purple Wave, Snow Leopard, Stardust, Vanilla Sky, White Dove, White Knight and White Lightning.

Here is an informative Q+A in WebMD on bath salts.

You learn something everyday in this line of work.