Crisaborole: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Crisaborole is a phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor sold in the U.S. under one brand, for atopic dermatitis. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Drug class
- Phosphodiesterase 4 Inhibitor
- Treats
- Atopic Dermatitis
- Available as
- Topical
- Sold as
- Eucrisa
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
Get treated for Crisaborole conditions online
Licensed online providers — consult & get prescribed if eligible.
Advertising disclosure: We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. This never affects our ratings. Details
How crisaborole is dosed
From the FDA label for Eucrisa (application NDA207695). Other crisaborole products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Apply a thin layer of EUCRISA twice daily to affected areas. Once clinical effect is achieved, consider reducing application to once daily [see Clinical Studies (14) ] . EUCRISA is for topical use only and not for ophthalmic, oral, or intravaginal use. • Apply a thin layer twice daily to affected areas. ( 2 ) • Once clinical effect is achieved, consider reducing application to once daily. ( 2 ) • For topical use only. ( 2 ) • Not for ophthalmic, oral, or intravaginal use. ( 2 )
Crisaborole side effects
The most common adverse reaction occurring in ≥1% in subjects is application site pain. ( 6.1 ) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Pfizer Inc. at 1-800-438-1985 or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch. 6.1 Clinical Trials Experience Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice. In two double-blind, vehicle-controlled clinical trials (Trial 1 and Trial 2), 1012 subjects 2 to 79 years of age with mild to moderate atopic dermatitis were treated with EUCRISA twice daily for 4 weeks. The adverse reaction reported by ≥1% of EUCRISA-treated subjects is listed in Table 1. Table 1: Adverse Reaction Occurring in ≥1% of Subjects in Atopic Dermatitis Trials through Week 4 Adverse Reaction EUCRISA Twice Daily N=1012 n (%) Vehicle Twice Daily N=499 n (%) Application site pain Refers to skin sensations such as burning or stinging. 45 (4) 6 (1) Less common (<1%) adverse reactions in subjects treated with EUCRISA included contact urticaria [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ]. In one double-blind, vehicle-controlled trial including an initial open-label period (Trial 3), 497 subjects 3 months of age and older with mild to moderate atopic dermatitis received…
Who shouldn’t take crisaborole
EUCRISA is contraindicated in patients with known hypersensitivity to crisaborole or any component of the formulation. [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ] Known hypersensitivity to crisaborole or any component of the formulation. ( 4 )
Every crisaborole product we track (1)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
Only one: Eucrisa.
What people report to the FDA about crisaborole
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 172 reports naming crisaborole, and the FDA flagged 59% of those reports as serious. The effects reported most often — leaving out reports about overdose, misuse or the condition being treated, which dominate the raw list for common medicines:
- dermatitis20 reports
- cheilitis17 reports
- eyelid irritation17 reports
- pruritus17 reports
- fall12 reports
- therapeutic product ineffective12 reports
- abdominal discomfort11 reports
- ankle fracture11 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean crisaborole caused the effect — anyone can file one, and many describe people taking several medicines for several conditions. Crucially there is no denominator: FAERS does not record how many people took the drug, so these counts cannot be turned into “X% of patients” — a bigger number often just means a more widely used or more talked-about drug. Duplicates exist, and publicity drives reporting. For what is actually established, read the FDA label section above.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved July 25, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
What is crisaborole?
EUCRISA contains 2% crisaborole (w/w) in a petrolatum-based, white to off-white ointment and is for topical use. The active ingredient, crisaborole, is a phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE-4) inhibitor.
What kind of drug is crisaborole?
The FDA classifies crisaborole as a phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor. If you are checking whether it is safe to combine with something else, the class is what matters — two drugs from the same class usually should not be stacked.
Can you take crisaborole with other medicines?
It depends on the medicine. We check it against the FDA labels rather than guessing: our interaction checker searches each drug's own label for the other and quotes what it says, naming the section it came from. Run crisaborole against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What forms does crisaborole come in?
Across the brands we track, crisaborole is currently marketed as topical, per the FDA's National Drug Code Directory. Each form is dosed differently — follow the label for the exact product you were prescribed.
Is there a generic crisaborole?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled crisaborole product. That does not always mean none exists — it means none appears under a generic name in the FDA data we track. Ask your pharmacist.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Crisaborole: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/crisaborole
- MLA
- “Crisaborole: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/crisaborole.
We summarise public FDA and NIH sources — for a clinical claim, cite the primary source we link to as well.
Sources: FDA openFDA drug label, National Drug Code Directory, and Enforcement (recall) database. This page reproduces public FDA data and is not medical advice. Dosing is set by your prescriber.
Read the full FDA label for crisaborole on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.