What is urticaria, many know. This appearance on the skin in response to some irritants of red or pink protruding itchy spots (called blisters) resembling a burn from a nettle stroke (hence the name). Such blisters usually have a clear boundary, tend to merge with each other, have a lighter center, sometimes a pronounced red rim. In some cases, the stain itself is surrounded by a thin strip of skin, which has a lighter color than the unaffected cover.
Another characteristic feature of urticaria is that the blisters migrate (today on the hands, tomorrow on the back), after which there is clean skin, on which you can never say that there were elements of urticaria in this place.
What arises from?
The main reason is allergic. The skin rash described above may result from:
- the introduction of drugs;
- the use of a product in food;
- an insect bite;
- contact with animals;
- exposure to the skin of household chemicals, cosmetics or other substances;
- flowering of some plants.
There are also rarer types of urticaria:
- arising in response to cold exposure;
- solar;
- appeared due to mechanical skin irritation (dermographic urticaria);
- vibrational;
- a disease that occurs in response to pressure applied to the skin;
- cholinergic urticaria - spots appear after contact with hot water (shower, bath, sauna) or physical effort;
- adrenergic - a rash appeared after stress;
- in response to contact with water, an aquagenic form.
Depending on its type, urticaria in a child receives different treatment, therefore, before dealing with treatment “on the Internet”, consult an immunologist-allergist.
How to treat urticaria caused by an allergic cause?
A. Urticaria can be caused by eating an allergen: that is, at the time the spots appeared, there was no skin contact with a new household chemical product, the child was not taking medicine, or this method was not the second or third in a row, nothing really blossoms, no one blooms bit, but there was the eating of some new product. If such a urticaria appears in a child, treatment requires:
- Stop giving this product.
- Rinse the stomach and put an enema (preferably with a sorbent such as "Polysorb", "White coal" or "Smecta"). An important feature: the water should be cool, below room temperature, since an enema with warm water is dangerous.
- Give an antihistamine to drink: Suprastin, Diazolin, Tavegil, Fenistil, Erius.
- Within 2-3 weeks until the elements of the rash completely disappear, follow a hypoallergenic diet.
- In the acute period (until new blisters appear), especially with a large lesion area or active bedding, it is recommended to give 2-3 types of short-acting antihistamines: for example, in the morning - "Fenistil", in the afternoon - "Diazolin", in the evening - "Tavegil" or "Suprastin" in an age dosage. In addition, the child should be given Polysorb or White Coal three to four times a day.
B. If at the beginning there was an insect bite, then a urticaria developed in the child, treatment (if the bite was not in the area of the head and neck - then at least one-day hospitalization is required) consists in the introduction of antihistamines (maybe two or three, as described above), calcium preparations, sodium thiosulfate.
B. If urticaria appeared in response to flowering plants, it is necessary to treat it with antihistamines. In this case, it is recommended to take one long-acting agent ("Erius", "Zodak", "Cetrin") together with a "short" drug ("Fenistil", "Diazolin") with the subsequent transition to a medicine from the same series, but which has delayed effect and should be taken more than a month - "Ketotifen." Dieting is a must.
D. If the diagnosis is “cholinergic urticaria”, treatment involves the prolonged use of contrast showers (for “accustoming” the skin vessels to the action of various temperatures). Of the drugs prescribed: "Ketotifen" (it strengthens the membranes of cells that produce histamine - the trigger factor for allergies) and "Dentokind" (it contains trace amounts of belladonna, which is shown in this case) for long-term use. A non-strict hypoallergenic diet is recommended.
If acute urticaria is diagnosed in a child, treatment should be carried out in a hospital. Especially if:
- the rash spreads to the neck or face - there is a danger of suffocation;
- the child is small;
- the disease is accompanied not only by a rash, but also by fever, abdominal pain;
- per day, subject to the use of antihistamines, sorbents, the lesion area not only did not decrease, but also increased;
- in addition to urticaria, a dry cough appeared, wheezing on exhalation (there is a risk of suffocation).