ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the case study of a 20-year-old girl develops a rash 24 hours after commencing her holiday in the sun. The rash is itchy and red affecting her neck and forearms, there is sparing of her face and hands. She has no previous history of skin problems, although her mother had suffered a similar rash whilst on a sunny holiday. The patient has polymorphic light eruption (PLE) or ‘prickly heat’. This is a very common recurring photodermatosis of unknown aetiology. The onset of PLE usually starts in the first three decades of life and then usually occurs each spring or early summer thereafter. PLE is a clinical diagnosis based on the history and it is therefore important to exclude other causes of photosensitive dermatoses such as photoallergic contact dermatitis, photo drug eruptions and lupus erythematosus.
