Derma means skin and dermatographism is skin writing. It is nothing but light scratches on the skin in the form of raised red colored hives. These scratches are not permanent and often they will go away within few minutes. This type of skin scratches can occur due to side effects of drugs or when the person is emotionally upset or due to infections. No special treatment is needed for dermatographism.
Symptoms :
Some of the signs of dermatographism are formation of raised red colored lines on the skin, light swelling on the surface of the skin, and build-up of hive like welts. For some people these patches may cause itching which can affect the entire body.
Types :
Depending on the nature of scratches dermatographism can be classified into many types.
- Red dermatographism : This is the most common type which develops as small raised scratches on the skin which occurs on trunk.
- Follicular dermatographism : This type causes specific prominent follicular papules on the skin with a well defined background.
- Cholinergic dermatographism : This is somewhat large embedded with punctuate wheals resembling urticaria.
- Delayed dermatographism : In this type papules develop after several hours of initial response forming deep wheal like structure.
Dermatographism Causes :
It is not known what exactly causes dermatographism. It can be due to side effects of medications, response to allergic reactions and any other factor that triggers allergy. Often young people who are in teens are diagnosed with this problem.
Diagnoses :
Your doctor can easily detect dermatogrphia by physical examination. No particular test is needed. However for some people, a tongue depressor is placed on the skin to identify specific defined red lines or welt.