AGEP is characterized by numerous, small, non-follicular pustules on a background of erythema, whereas DRESS is primarily a morbilliform eruption without prominent pustulation.
Erythrodermic CTCL is a chronic, progressive total-body redness, whereas DRESS is an acute reaction to a drug with systemic symptoms.
A simple morbilliform drug eruption lacks the key features of DRESS, which are fever, eosinophilia, lymphadenopathy, and internal organ involvement.
This is a streptococcal infection distinguished by a "sandpaper" rash, a strawberry tongue, and palatal petechiae, which are not features of DRESS.
While both cause fever and rash, the rash in sepsis is often petechial or purpuric, and the clinical picture is one of hemodynamic instability, unlike the specific drug-induced syndrome of DRESS.
SSSS is characterized by widespread, tender erythema followed by superficial sloughing of the skin (positive Nikolsky sign), a different morphology than the morbilliform rash of DRESS.
TSS is an acute, toxin-mediated illness with hypotension, high fever, and a diffuse "sunburn-like" erythroderma that later desquamates, a different presentation than DRESS.
A viral rash is often preceded by a viral prodrome and lacks the hallmark features of DRESS, such as marked eosinophilia and internal organ dysfunction.
