I suffer from dermographia urticaria, is this could be allergies or anxiety?

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Hello, Any time I get emotional, nervous, take a hot shower or sit in hot sun, I get blotchy/ flushing red rash on my forehead, cheeks and splotches on my neck and chest. It also occurs if I drink alcohol and definitely after too much caffeine. It seems to occur if I am nervous. The areas affected are really hot to touch but it goes as quickly as it comes. It seems to be tied to anxiety...the more I think about it, the worse it gets. It usually goes away in about 20mins although the more I think about it the worse it gets!I suffer from dermographia urticaria, allergies and anxiety. Could this be from my allergies or anxiety? When it goes away, the rash shows no lingering signs. It feels hot and burns a little. It will also go up Into my scalp. I have attached some photos.

Submitted: 4 Days
Category: Sexologist

Expert:  Dr. John Monheit replied 4 Days.

Thank you for asking your query.

The symptoms you have mentioned here, getting blotchy, flushing, red rashes, hot to touch ares, dermographism, urticarias - all are part and parcel of same allergy and hypersensitivity phenomenon group called Physical Urticarias

This means your skin and body is reacting a bit hyper to external stimuli. You could be having specifically having cholinergic urticaria and solar urticaria too. Please do not get alarmed by the names. It just means your skin is a bit hypersensitive. The good thing here is that this is not serious and there will not be any long term complication.

The best treatment would be avoidance of precipitants. That means whatever things are causing symptoms you better avoid them. Anti allergic medications like Cetirizine (H1 anti histamins) can be really helpful. If its really troublesome you may need glucocorticoids after consulting an Allergy specialist.

Hope this helps

Thank you

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