How to get rid of hives on face

You might get a red rash or hives on your face if you’ve touched a substance that your body perceives as an allergen. This type of allergic reaction is called contact dermatitis. The allergen can range from poison ivy to a food you’ve touched or a new brand of laundry detergent.

Hives usually go away on their own within a few days to a week. But for some, hives become a chronic, or long-term, issue. If you develop hives and they last longer than six weeks, you may have a condition known as chronic hives.

Don’t Scratch

Yes, the itch can drive you crazy, but scratching hives may cause them to spread and become even more inflamed, says Neeta Ogden, MD, an allergist in private practice in Englewood, New Jersey, and a spokesperson for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

What do stress hives look like? Stress hives can look a little like bug bites: both are red, puffy, and itchy, and may appear initially as individual bumps, says Stevenson. However, hives are more often irregular in shape and can join together in larger patches, especially if you scratch them.

Benadryl is effective for decreasing itchy skin from hives. It’s often considered a first-choice treatment for hives. But although it’s effective for decreasing symptoms of seasonal allergies, Benadryl isn’t often used for this purpose. This is due to side effects such as sleepiness.

There are actually a number of different things that can cause people to break out in hives, including anxiety. When this happens, people can develop an itchy rash on the skin known as anxiety hives, also sometimes known as a stress rash.

Along with your body’s natural circadian rhythms, a number of different health conditions can cause itchy skin to become worse at night. These include: skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis (eczema), psoriasis, and hives. bugs like scabies, lice, bed bugs, and pinworms.

The most common foods that cause hives are nuts, chocolate, fish, tomatoes, eggs, fresh berries, soy, wheat, and milk. Fresh foods cause hives more often than cooked foods.

How long can hives last? Hives can last a variable amount of time. Usually, eruptions may last for a few minutes, sometimes several hours, and even several weeks to months. Most individual hives last no more than 24 hours.

Wear loose-fitting, cotton clothes. Apply a cold compress, such as ice cubes wrapped in a washcloth, to the itchy skin several times a day—unless cold triggers your hives. Use anti-itch medication that you can buy without a prescription, such as an antihistamine or calamine lotion.

Remedies and Treatments for Hives

Antihistamines work on histamine, which is released by mast cells — a certain type of immune system cell — in the presence of an allergen or an irritant. You can use over-the-counter topical treatments like calamine lotion or hydrocortisone cream, too.

Reduce hives Baking soda is a natural antiseptic that can be used to soothe hives, too, says Green. In addition to adding baking soda to your bath water to soothe the itchiness associated with hives, you can also make a paste for more targeted treatment, she explains.

Treatments Doctors Use for Hives

Doctors usually prescribe antihistamines as a first course of treatment for hives. Acute cases can generally be treated with over-the-counter antihistamines like Benadryl, Claritin (loratadine), Allegra (fexofenadine), and Zyrtec (cetirizine).

There is a condition called chronic idiopathic urticaria (ur-ti-KAIR-ee-uh). Simply put, it means hives that stick around for more than six weeks for no known reason. Many people call it CIU. About 1.5 million people in the U.S. have it.

If non-drowsy antihistamines fail to provide relief, your doctor may prescribe Vistaril (hydroxyzine pamoate) to be taken at bedtime. It is a stronger antihistamine used to treat a wide range of skin reactions including chronic urticaria, contact dermatitis, and histamine-related itch (pruritis).

If antihistamines don’t help, your doctor might prescribe a corticosteroid. These drugs calm the immune system. That can make your hives less severe. You can get them in a shot or a pill.

Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) is great for allergies, but curl up on the couch after taking it and get ready for a nap. Zyrtec (cetirizine) works to treat sneezing and runny nose, and causes less sedation compared to Benadryl. Works well to also treat hives and itchy skin.

Hives appear as a rapidly spreading, red, raised and itchy rash in splotches or all over the body. Caused by an allergic reaction to medications or food, hives can be a sign of a life-threatening problem when accompanied by difficulty breathing and a drop in blood pressure.