DEAR DR. GOTT: I have these spots that keep breaking out. The doctor told me it was urticaria. Can you tell me something about it, how I can get rid of it and what causes it to keep coming and going away? When the spots come, they burn from the inside out and they break and turn red on the outside of my skin.

The doctor gave me pills to take but they didn’t help. This has been going on for the last 2 ½ years. At first I though it was caused by nerves but I haven’t had any problems recently.

DEAR READER: Urticaria, otherwise known as hives, is itchy, red (or sometimes white), raised welts that appear on the surface of the skin. They can change shape and disappear, only to reappear again and again. They may enlarge, spread and join together to cover a greater area of [Read more…]