Urticaria (urticaria) is an acute allergic disease characterized by the manifestation of severe itching, rashes in the form of blisters, similar to blisters with a nettle burn.
The reason is the development of an immune response to the penetration of an allergic agent into the body. Most often occurs on an insect bite, eating allergenic foods.
FORMS OF URTICARIA
Acute urticaria
Chronic urticaria
Artificial urticaria
Acute urticaria is a typical manifestation of an allergen reaction. It can last up to two weeks. Chronic urticaria lasts for many years with periodic remissions and exacerbations, from a day to several weeks. Artificial urticaria is manifested by the appearance of a blister-like stripe, if, for example, you run a nail over the skin. Synonyms: urticary dermographism, autographism.
Also in medicine, cases of urticaria are described in response to physical stimuli: cold, heat, stress, pressure, sunlight, emotional experiences (cholinergic urticaria).
The mechanism is an allergic reaction provokes the production of histamine, which increases vascular permeability and fluid accumulation in interstitial tissue. So there are limited areas of blisters, slightly rising above the skin level.
symptoms
Blisters have a bright pink color, have various shapes and sizes. Local hyperemia is possible at the site of the formation of a blister. Often there is some pallor in the center of the elevation of the blister.
Acute urticaria begins suddenly – with burning throughout the body, accompanied by severe itching, including on the mucous membranes of the tongue, gums, and the inside of the lips. In young children, the development of intoxication syndrome with fever, malaise may occur.
diagnostics
The diagnosis of urticaria is made mainly based on a visual examination of the patient and anamnesis data. If urticaria is detected for the first time, additional studies are needed to determine the cause of rashes, an elimination test with allergens. The patient’s preparation for this study includes a three-day fast with a liquid intake of no more than 2 liters per day, daily cleansing enemas, showers. If the symptoms decrease after these manipulations, we are talking about allergic urticaria. If the symptoms not only have not decreased, but may have worsened, it is pseudoallergic urticaria on physical stimuli.
There is also a laboratory test that determines the types of urticaria – a bilirubin test. During elimination, the level of bilirubin significantly increases in patients with a pseudoallergic form, while in patients with an allergic form, bilirubin is either normal or reduced.
treatment
Treatment depends on the form of urticaria and includes: symptomatic and etiotropic therapy. In case of food allergies, a hypoallergenic diet is prescribed, with mandatory maintenance of a food diary, not only products to which there is an allergy are excluded, but also the consumption of the most allergenic products is limited. If the allergy is caused in response to the administration and administration of medications – about the possibility of canceling the drugs altogether, if it is impossible (for vital reasons) – to replace them with similar ones that do not cause an immune response, but only after thorough clinical tests.
Pathogenetic therapy consists in prescribing antihistamines to the patient, corticosteroids are used only in the most severe cases: asthmatic status, anaphylactic shock, angioedema of the larynx. In case of pseudoallergic urticaria, it is necessary to identify the cause of its occurrence, direct treatment to the rehabilitation of the underlying disease, correction of nutrition, exclusion of bad habits.
