What do we know about the rare and mysterious case of water allergy?

Drinking water in sufficient quantity is important and useful to ensure the physical and intellectual activity of the human being, and to balance the various vital processes within the body.

As a result, it seems impossible to live with a water allergy, a rare condition where skin contact with water can trigger an allergic reaction.
This condition is known scientifically as “aquatic urticaria”, and it is a type of itchy rash that develops rapidly after the skin comes into contact with water, including sweat or tears.

The condition only occurs through skin contact and not from drinking water, so people with urticaria are not naturally at risk of dehydration.

Watery urticaria is extremely rare and doctors do not have a complete understanding of why it occurs. Although there is no cure, there are strategies to control symptoms.

Could you be allergic to water?

Once people with watery urticaria come into contact with the skin, they develop an itch called urticaria. The cells consist of raised bumps on the skin called urticaria. Once the skin dries, they generally fade within 30 to 60 minutes.

Marcus Maurer, professor of dermatology and allergy at Charité University Hospital in Berlin, says: “Bathing, for example, or sweating, is usually followed by cracks in the entire skin within two minutes, while the signs and symptoms caused by crying are limited to the areas where it is touched. skin tears.”
In more severe cases, the condition can also cause angioedema, which is swelling of the tissues under the skin. This swelling is deeper than the cells and can be more painful. Both urticaria and angioedema tend to develop upon contact with water of any temperature.

Although urticaria is similar to an allergy, technically it is not, as it is more broadly classified as an illness. “The mechanisms that lead to this disease are not allergic mechanisms,” Maurer explains.

For this reason, treatments that work with allergies, such as allergy shots, which rely on injecting a patient with an allergen to stimulate his or her immune system so that it can build up tolerance, are not entirely effective. While antihistamines can help relieve some of the symptoms of urticaria, the best thing patients can do is try to avoid contact with water.

“Because contact with water is unavoidable, patients know that they will develop hives and this leads to anxiety, depression and high levels of stress,” Maurer says.

Even eating and drinking can be stressful, because if water spills on the skin or spicy food causes a patient to sweat, they will have an allergic reaction.
Causes of aqueous urticaria

Scientific research has revealed little about how the disease works, as it affects so few patients. Researchers know that when water comes into contact with the skin, it activates allergy cells, which cause hives and pimples. However, what researchers don’t know is how water activates allergy cells. This mechanism is understood for environmental allergens, such as hay fever, but not for urticaria aquatica.

According to Maurer, one hypothesis is that contact with water causes skin proteins to automatically become allergens, which then bind to receptors on allergic skin cells. However, research is limited by the very low numbers of patients with urticaria, and there is still little evidence to support any hypothesis.

Although the course of urticaria is unpredictable, doctors note that the condition tends to clear up later in life, as most patients recover spontaneously years or decades after the injury.