ABSTRACT
Urticaria becomes chronic when wheals fluctuate daily or almost daily for 6 weeks or more. Angioedema may also occur.
In practice, there is a wide spectrum of clinical presentations of chronic urticaria. It may occur continuously for long periods or daily for a few days and then not for a week or two. When continuous urticarial activity is punctuated by gaps of several weeks or months, it is better called episodic, (or recurrent). Recognizing this pattern may be helpful in identifying an external trigger. It is also not uncommon to hear of previous episodes of chronic urticaria in patients who have undergone remission, followed by relapse years later.
