Contact Hive - Cold Hive

Contact hive and cold hive are two relatively common types of physical hive. If you are suffering from either one of them, this article is your complete guide to what should be your course of action to cope with the situation.

Contact hive is an immediate, but fleeting outbreak on the skin, which is limited to a small area of swelling and redness. This occurs after the patient comes in direct contact with certain offending stimuli. Contact hives caused by a variety of compounds, such as foods, preservatives, fragrances, plant and animal products, and metals, continue to be reported. The contact can be immunologic and non-immunologic. The causes of non-immunologic contact hive include balsam of Peru, benzoic acid, cinnamic alcohol, cinnamic aldehyde, sorbic acid, and dimethylsulfoxide. Causes of immunologic contact hive include natural rubber latex, raw meat and fish, semen, many antibiotics, some metals (e.g. platinum, nickel), acrylic monomers, short-chain alcohols, and benzoic and other miscellaneous chemicals.

The most commonly observed characteristics of contact hive are itch or itchy hives, local burning sensation, and tingling. Red swellings or wheals may also occur, especially on the hands. The color of the wheals shows the severity, which can range from slight redness or spots with minimal swelling to fiery redness with tense swelling and wheals. Rash caused by contact hive usually resolves by itself within 24 hours of onset.

Cold hive appear in the form of wheals after the skin is exposed to extremely low temperature. The two basic types of cold hive are familial cold hives (sometimes also called inherited cold hives) and acquired cold hive.

Certain exposures that can cause cold hive vary greatly, from holding a cold object, dipping body parts in cold water or ice, to exposure including wind and walking or swimming in extremely cold environments. Any individual prone to cold hive must avoid these stimuli as much as possible.