Rare Water Allergy - Aquagenic Urticaria

60% of our body is Water, so it is hard to believe that anybody can be allergic to water. This disease is a medical mystery first described in 1964. Now most of you must be thinking that in such case how that person would be able to drink water, but here you must know that this allergy occurs only on skin and don't occur due to drinking. This rare medical condition is called Aquagenic Urticaria.

All of us suffer from normal urticaria, a normal skin allergy, at some point in our life. It happens as an allergy due to excess sweating and humid environment or due to allergy from some food and drug. Red itchy bumps or welts appear on skin and often fade away with time. But Aquagenic Urticaria is a rare and chronic form of urticaria, in which our skin considers water as a foreign object and our immune system creates an allergic reaction on skin. Various forms of water that trigger such allergic reaction include rain, snow, sweat and tears.

Causes of Aquagenic Urticaria

Normally our immune system releases histamines as a measure to fight of any foreign substance on our skin, which is called allergy. But why do such immune response occur due to water, is still unknown. Some researchers speculate that it might be due to presence of chlorine in water, but they don't have answer to allergy to our tears in case of  Aquagenic Urticaria.

Symptoms of Aquagenic Urticaria

In this medical condition, if the skin is exposed to water then redness of skin, welts, lesions and inflammation may occur. In severe cases even drinking water can cause rashes around mouth and difficulty in swallowing and breathing.

Treatment of Aquagenic Urticaria

There is no known sure shot treatment for this medical condition, but symptomatic treatment is done. Antihistamines are commonly prescribed to treat allergy like symptoms.

People diagnosed with Aquagenic Urticaria need to take a lot of precautions in daily life. They need to take quick showers, restrict their water intake, avoid watery foods, not indulge in physical activities that can cause sweating, avoiding humid environment and much more.