Symptomatic therapy of skin itch in allergic dermatoses
Background. Allergic dermatoses - atopic dermatitis, urticaria, eczema, allergic dermatitis, toxidermia - comprise a group of diseases with clearly manifested skin itching although their pathogenic mechanisms are different. The term urticaria is used to denote a heterogeneous group of conditions characterized by monomorphic urticarial itching eruption. Urticaria is a common disease, approximately 15-25% of population experienced an episode of urticaria at least once during their life. Since the duration and severity of urticaria symptoms vary quite significantly, strict criteria are necessary for evaluation of the disease activity. For this purpose, scoring systems for clinical evaluation of the disease severity were developed. The most effective and practically applicable is the Urticaria Severity Assessment Scoring System (UAS7) which is based on daily evaluation of the key symptoms, namely wheals and itch, in the course of 7 days. The European Guidelines on Diagnosis and Treatment of Urticaria recommend using UAS7 in everyday dermatological practice for evaluation of the severity of the condition as well as the efficacy of therapy in patients with chronic urticaria [Zuberbier T. et al, 2009].