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Skin Welts Form With Light Pressure
by Kim
When I lean against something for an extended period of time, it usually leaves an indentation, right? Well, in my case, instead of the indentation just going away after some time, it turns into a welt or welts.
Last night, I was working under the hood of my truck and my arms were pushing up against everything under there. When I finished and went to wash my hands and arms, there were little welts everywhere. It looked like I had scars from cutting myself or something. They went away after some time, but my skin looked terrible for a while.
Is this the same thing as dermatographism?
It sure sounds like it. For many people, any kind of light pressure applied to the skin causes the skin to form red welts and usually itch. In my case, simply reaching into a cardboard box to retrieve what was inside would cause red welts to form on my arms from the flaps of the cardboard box rubbing against my arms. Other times, I would lightly scratch my back, sometimes without realizing it and when I would take my shirt off, it looked like I was attacked by some sort of animal. Numerous skin welts that were very red appeared everywhere that I touched my back.
Other examples include lightly touching your face, like you often do without realizing it, and this causes a flaming red welt where the face was touched. For others, a watch band, or belt buckle, or really anything putting pressure on the skin causes the skin welts to form.
To verify 100 percent that you have this condition, you should check with your physician. Be sure to mention that you suspect dermatographism because some doctors have never heard of it.
A simple test you can do is to take a blunt object, like the handle end of a spoon and lightly stroke the skin and see if welts form. This is usually what a doctor does with a wooden tongue depressor in order to diagnose dermatographism.
In most cases, once the welts form, they last for usually 20 to 30 minutes and sometimes a bit longer. They then disappear with no sign of there being a problem on the affected area of the skin.
