Skin Welting

Dermographism in a patient with hives

If you have hives, you likely will also have a condition called physical urticaria. What happens is that any stroking of the skin, or scratching will form a raised line where you drew the line. This is also called dermographism. It will flare up within minutes of the scratch, and basically seeing what occurs is all that is needed for a diagnosis. If you are having hives it is important to tell your treating aesthetician so that they can advise you if doing treatments like microdermabrasion is safe at that time. We don't fully understand the causes, but it happens in as many as 5% of the population and will last weeks, months or years. Relapses can occur even after the condition resolves. Some women report worsening during their menstrual cycle but this hasn't been confirmed by all studies. It's possible that a skin infection or antibiotics trigger it. Using over the counter antihistamines is not a bad first line of treatment, and others may need prescription strength or even other types of medication. Some people need chronic medication to control the symptoms.

Skin Darkening in Pregnancy

Darkening of the skin in pregnancy is called hyperpigmentation and it used to be that we thought it was related to what is called melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH), now we've decided it really is not certain why pregnant women get this skin darkening. Virtually 90% of patients will exhibit darkening of their skin during pregnancy, even if it's only in selected areas or only slightly darker. In fact extra pigment containing cells, known as melanocytes seem to cluster in areas, and can even form knots. These new skin knots that you can see are due to new skin melanocytes. If a woman gets darkening of her face it's called chloasma. This darkening is best treated after the pregnancy with some form of skin lightening and most commonly in the past we used tretinoin ointment. Other areas of the body that may darken are the areolae around the nipples, the inner thighs, or the linea alba which is a fine line that runs down the center of the abdomen. About half of all women will have chloasma itself. Moles, or nevi, while they may darken along with the overall darkening of the skin, should not change in size in pregnancy and if they do you need this evaluated.

Sudden Unwanted Hair Growth Explained: It May Not Be Your Hormones!

What now you ask? Suddenly you are seeing more excess hair, and you want to know what has changed. Your first thought is that you now have a hormone imbalance? Perhaps? Perhaps women who now notice they have excess hair have a missed diagnosis of polycystic ovaries called PCOS? Maybe, and we've discussed that condition in several other posts. But excess hair growth is affected by glands other than just our ovaries. So you wonder if you have adrenal gland abnormalities, adrenal gland stress? Perhaps as well. It can't be aging, we think PCOS might actually get a bit better with age. But a hidden source of abnormalities was poited out by Dr. Elise Olsen a Merck & Co consultant and an Investigator for Eisai Pharmaceuticals and a Dermatopharmacologist at Duke: drug exposures! Many medications have unwanted hair growth as a side effect. And that can not only be a problem to treat, but pose a problem for the cure! So be sure to check that med cab and the labels before you bop to our spas for laser hair removal!