Diagnostic and Therapeutic Management of Chronic Urticaria by Dermatologists and the Role of Dermatology Departments.

In June 2014 a group of dermatologists met in Madrid to reflect on our specialty’s role in managing a highly prevalent skin disease: chronic urticaria. The reflections were motivated by the advances in the diagnosis and therapeutic management of this condition that have emerged over the last 5 years. Patients with chronic urticaria develop wheals, angioedema, or both almost daily, and their disease flares are accompanied by specifically cutaneous symptoms such as itching. Renewed interest in this chronic condition, which must always have been a concern for dermatologists, grew out of several scientific and societal events related to urticaria that occurred in 2014. For example,