Urticarial vasculitis

Urticarial lesions may occur as a manifestation vasculitis. We describe a series of patients with recurrent urticaria characterized by persistent weals in which a leucocytoclastic or lymphocytic vasculitis was demonstrated. The spectrum ranged from limited cutaneous involvement to severe systemic disease. The individual lesions were of long duration (over 24 h) in all patients. One had systemic lupus erythematosus, one developed Sjögren's Syndrome and one had recurrent abdominal pain and diarrhoea which coincided with her skin eruption. Therapy was difficult in most cases and some patients required systemic corticosteroids to control their disease.