Specialists say that hives suffered at least once in a lifetime every third person, and most are to this pathology of middle-aged women. Manifestations of hives are not only unpleasant, but sometimes they are excruciating, cause physical and psychological discomfort. Consider how the symptoms of hives look, but before we know what factors are associated with its occurrence.
Why does hives occur?
In most cases, urticaria is allergic, resulting in various endogenous (internal) and exogenous (external) factors, such as food, chemicals, drugs, synthetic tissues, plants, emotional overstrain, cold, solar insolation, etc.
Allergic urticaria, as a rule, is an acute disease, the symptoms of which rarely last more than 1-2 weeks. If the skin manifestations persist for more than six weeks, chronic hives are spoken of, and the causes are often chronic foci of infection in the body (caries, tonsillitis, adnexitis, infectious gastritis), diseases of the digestive system (mainly liver), parasitic infections.
The mechanism of appearance of skin manifestations in urticaria is associated with reactions in the body that cause the release of certain biological substances, which in turn provokes increased permeability of the vascular walls for blood elements and expansion of capillaries in skin tissues.
What does acute urticaria on the body look like with allergies?
To establish a relationship of urticaria with the effect of an allergen usually does not make much effort, because symptoms of the disease occur after a few minutes (less often - hours) after exposure to the stimulus. One of the distinctive features of the pathology is that its manifestations disappear as quickly as they appear, after elimination of the allergen effect and proper treatment. In this case, no traces on the skin (scars, blemishes, peeling, etc.) hives after themselves do not leave (the exception may be complicated forms associated with joining the infection).
The main elements of urticaria on the body, which can occur on any part of it (including the mucous membranes), are swollen blisters that resemble burns from the nettle, which are characterized by:
- color from light pink (more often) to bright red (less often) shade;
- elevation above the surface of the skin;
- clear limitation of contours;
- size from a few millimeters to several centimeters.
Such blisters can be numerous, cover large areas of the body surface, merge. The peculiarity of them is that when the skin is stretched or pressed, the blisters disappear. Virtually always hives accompanied by an itch of varying intensity, which in severe cases can cause nervous breakdown, sleep disturbances. Also, in the area of rashes, there may be a burning sensation, tingling sensations.
What does the hives look like on the face?
Manifestations of urticaria on the face are similar to the symptoms of the disease with localization in other areas. But in this case, the pathology becomes dangerous due to its possible complication - Quinck's puffiness . It is a rapidly developing edema of the deep tissues of the skin and subcutaneous tissue or mucous membranes. If the Quincke's edema affects the tissues of the larynx, the tongue, then complete blockage of the airways and choking may occur. Symptoms of this pathology are as follows:
- the appearance of a dense edema, on which, after pressing, there is no fossa;
- the skin in the affected area may slightly turn red or be pale;
- when affecting the tissues of the respiratory tract, there is a hoarse, barking cough .
It is worth knowing that such symptoms require immediate medical attention.