Urticaria, a skin rash that affects 1 in 5 French people during their lifetime. How to be sure it is hives, and what treatment is there for an attack of hives. The details of Martin Ducret.
All about hives, we talk about it with Martin Ducret, doctor and journalist at Doctor’s Daily. A rash that affects 1 in 5 French people during their lifetime.
franceinfo: What is hives?
Martin Ducret: It is the appearance on the skin of red or pink patches, in relief, rounded, well-defined, itchy, and also sometimes swelling of the mucous membranes, in particular the lips and eyelids.
We often associate hives with an allergy, when in the vast majority of cases, it is not one?
Yes, indeed, allergic urticaria, caused by the production of specific antibodies against an allergen – such as food, medicine, latex or wasp venom – is exceptional. Fortunately, because an attack of allergic urticaria can be potentially serious with the appearance of angioedema, that is to say swelling inside the throat, causing difficulty in speaking and to breathe, and which requires emergency hospitalization.
In the vast majority of cases therefore, an attack of urticaria is caused by various and varied non-allergic stimuli. It can be due to medication or food, in reaction to an autoimmune or viral disease – such as a cold – but also to cold, friction, heat or contact with certain materials or living beings – such as jellyfish and nettles.
How do you manage an attack of urticaria?
In the event of an acute attack, the urticaria generally disappears spontaneously in a few hours or a few days, but taking an antihistamine drug can quickly relieve the symptoms.
To avoid a recurrence, you have to look for the cause, a food for example, and remove it. I also advise to consult a doctor in the event of a first crisis, or during an attack that is widespread or resistant to treatment. Of course, if you have difficulty speaking or breathing, you have to go to the emergency room.
Hives can also become chronic?
Yes, that is to say that the crises occur every day or almost, for several weeks, without necessarily found causes. In this case, taking the antihistamine should be prolonged for several months.
And in case of resistance, there has been a monthly injection treatment for several years, omalizumab, which has been a small revolution in relieving patients with chronic urticaria.