What is hives?

  Urticaria is commonly known as “wind rash”, “wind bumps”. In Chinese medicine, it is called “addiction rash”. It is a common allergic disease of the skin and mucous membranes. It is caused by temporary edema of the skin tissue. Both children and adults can get this disease. It has been estimated that about 20% of the population will develop hives at least once in their lifetime. Most people have sudden itching of the skin, followed within a few minutes by irregularly shaped pale white or red flat bumps of varying sizes, ranging from small ones as large as a grain of rice to large ones like a dish or larger, mostly the size of a fingernail or a penny, with a large number of clusters fusing with each other, forming clusters and forming patterns of different shapes with clear borders and surrounded by a red halo of varying widths, with lesions all over the body.  The onset and fading of the lesions are rapid, with a single cluster lasting generally 2-8 hours, and generally not more than 24 hours. It does not leave any trace after fading. They rise and fall with each passing day, recurring, occurring several times a day or once every few days. It has been recorded in ancient Chinese books that “the skin is itchy at the beginning, followed by flat bumps, which form bean flaps and pile up into patches, with no shadow when they come and no trace when they go”. Patients often have a combination of fever and gastrointestinal symptoms, and some patients also have a combination of hand, foot, eye, or even the entire face with limited edema. Because the clinical manifestations of the disease are similar to the skin damage that occurs when a person is exposed to plant nettles, it is called urticaria.