Hives on Soles of Feet
by Pepper
(New Orleans)
Occasionally, and with unknown cause, I develop painful, debilitating hives on the soles of my feet. The problematic skin hives almost always occur in the arches or balls of my feet, and when they occur, walking is too painful. The hives on the soles of my feet usually resolve themselves in about 24 hours, but as you can imagine, being lame for almost 24 hours is quite an interruption in my life. As a result of what I am experiencing I have a question - does anyone else out there suffer similarly, and if so, have you found anything - especially something over the counter (OTC) - that significantly diminishes the pain of the skin hives or speeds up the healing?
In my own personal experience with dermatographism and reading many submissions from dermatographism sufferers on this website, I cannot remember hives on the soles of feet being specifically mentioned as a dermatographism symptom or problem. From a logical perspective, the soles of the feet are regularly subjected to pressure being applied to them, especially when walking or standing. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that if you have the dermatographism skin problem, which means that hives or welts form with applied pressure, then hives forming on the soles of the feet should not be that unusual. What is unusual is that I have not heard about the soles of the feet being affected too often. However, everyone is different and perhaps it just affects you in this way. Does the skin on other parts of your body form welts with applied pressure?
Treatment depends on whether you actually have dermatographism or not. I would first recommend a visit to a doctor to get a proper diagnosis. Over the counter medications to treat dermatographism involve the use of antihistamines, but getting the dosage and type of antihistamine correct for your condition requires the expertise of a doctor. Often a higher dose than available over the counter will be required. One tip to note is that dermatographism hives are often worse with heat and may actually form with heat. Therefore, keeping your feet cool and wearing well ventilated footwear may help reduce the hives on the soles of your feet or may at least make the reaction less severe.
