BACKGROUND The high prevalence of chronic hepatitis C virus infection in patients with porphyria cutanea tarda, specially in those without family history of the disease, suggests that this could be an acquired disease and one of the most frequent extra hepatic manifestations of hepatitis C virus infection. OBJECTIVE To study the excretion of porphyrins and its precursors in cirrhotic patients with and without hepatitis C virus infection. METHODS Eighteen patients with cirrhosis Child-Pough A, eight infected with hepatitis C virus, were studied. Urinary excretion of [symbol see text] aminolevulinic acid, porphobilinogen, coproporphyrins, uroporphyrins and fecal excretion of coproporphyrins and protoporphyrins were measured. Red blood cell protoporphyrin was also measured. RESULTS There were no differences in the measured parameters between patients with or without hepatitis C virus infection. No patient had uroporphyrin excretion values over the normal range. Some patients had slight elevations in some parameters, but always below the values observed in porphyrias. CONCLUSIONS In these group of patients, hepatitis C virus infection of its associated liver disease, do not cause detectable alterations in porphyrin metabolism.