Urticaria (Synonyms: Hives; Nettlerash.)
Give a definition of urticaria.
Urticaria is an inflammatory affection characterized by evanescent whitish, pinkish or reddish elevations, or wheals, variable as to size and shape, and attended by itching, stinging or pricking sensations.
Describe the symptoms of urticaria.
The eruption, erythematous in character and consisting of isolated pea or bean-sized elevations or of linear streaks or irregular patches, limited or more or less general, and usually intensely itchy, makes its appearance suddenly, with or without symptoms of preceding gastric derangement. The lesions are soft or firm, reddish or pinkish-white, with the peripheral portion of a bright red color, and are fugacious in character, disappearing and reappearing in the most capricious manner. In many cases simply drawing the finger over the skin will bring out irregular and linear wheals. In exceptional cases this peculiar property is so pronounced and constant that at any time letters and other symbols may be produced at will, even when such subjects are free from the ordinary urticarial lesions (urticaria factitia, dermatographism, autographism).
The mucous membrane of the mouth and throat may also be the seat of wheals and urticarial swellings.
What is the ordinary course of urticaria?
Acute. The disease is usually at an end in several hours or days.
Does urticaria always pursue an acute course?
No. In exceptional instances the disease is chronic, in the sense that new lesions continue to appear and disappear irregularly from time to time for months or several years, the skin rarely being entirely free (chronic urticaria).