Hives, Urticaria
Hives and similar skin reactions of allergy are a problem for many people. Hives are elevated pea-sized nodules accompanied by intense itching, and they can arrive in a few minutes after eating, breathing, or touching any substance to which the patient is allergic. Another type of hive reaction in allergy, is called the giant hive, a large, flat and raised skin area, six to eight inches in diameter, with a reddened and itching surface. Skin susceptible to these allergic reactions can often be written upon with the fingernail or other sharp object to produce a raised line or welt, and is known as dermographism, or skin writing. Allergic skin reactions are sometimes caused by drugs such as penicillin, or food, such as strawberries, chocolate, wheat or eggs. They can also be the result of bodily infection and on occasion can be mentally induced. A skin eruption due to a mental state is hard to understand and is possibly best described as the skin attempting to speak for the mind. Hives and other unpleasantly related skin reactions usually demand intense study to identify and eliminate, if possible, the responsible allergic substance.
Fig. 1. Skin writing (dermog-raphism) appears after scratch-like writing on the sensitive skin of semi-allergic people. Raised welt-like lines appear approximately a minute after scratching and last 10 to 20 minutes. They are due to a histamine-like reaction in the skin.
Many factors in allergy remain unknown, and often an onslaught of hives, thought due to allergy, may persist in a come and go fashion despite all therapy for a year or more, and then disappear as suddenly as they began.
Boils and Carbuncles
A boil is a rapidly forming, localized bacterial infection with a concentration of pus in its center, while a carbuncle is several boils grouped together. Boils develop around hair shafts on any hairy skin surface and progress quickly from a mild soreness to a painful, hardened and elevated sore, surrounding a core of pus. After the core has come to a head, drainage may occur spontaneously or the boil may have to be incised. Frequent sites for boils are the neck, the face, and the back. They are invited through infection induced by rubbing collars, squeezed blackheads and irritated or scratched skin. When they recur frequently or continuously, in spite of acceptable cleanliness, underlying diseases such as diabetes become a definite possibility and should be carefully investigated by a physician.