Retrospective chart review in a cohort of patients with urticarial dermatitis

Urticarial dermatitis is a poorly understood skin condition while it seems to be much more common than the paucity of reports suggest. It manifests with severely pruritic papules and plaques that resemble eczematous and urticarial lesions morphologically. The key clues to diagnosis are the urticarial appearance and overlap with an eczematous reaction. Here, we present a series of 19 cases (13 women and six men) with urticarial dermatitis clinically and histologically. The patients' average age was 58 and most of the cases were idiopathic. Trunk and proximal extremities were the most common sites involved followed by the distal extremities. Poor response to potent topical corticosteroids and antihistamines was usual and many patients required oral prednisone or other immunosuppressant agents or phototherapy.