Solar Urticaria Awareness

My daughter would always burn in an instant outdoors, no matter how much sunscreen or clothing she wore. We always put it down to her fair skin, Swedish ancestry, and tried to do better. At age 12 the burns progressed to hives, and feeling ill, and more allergy symptoms. We were shuttled from doctor to doctor, from specialist to specialist. Four years later she was diagnosed with Solar Urticaria. Friends will say, "yeah I have that too, but do you really?" Its more than turning red, its more than the odd hive. Its a life threatening allergy to all forms of UV Light. Its being in pain all the time you are exposed. Its about sleeping for 24 hours after exposure due to the histamines your body worked so hard to produce. Its about having hives, layered on top of each other, on top of each other, until you look like a mottled set of purple grapes. The pain, the lack of treatments, the doubt she faces every day. Awareness is a must. A group she is in created this pin and distributed it to members. Not all have solar urticaria, some have other UV issues, or sun issues, but all want the same thing, acceptance, acknowledgement and awareness.


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