Chronic hives (urticaria) don’t look the same on everyone, and for people with skin of color, this can lead to confusion, misdiagnosis, and frustrating delays in treatment.

Dr. Ama Alexis joins Dr. Gupta and Kortney to discuss the unique challenges of diagnosing and managing urticaria in skin of color. Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) can be especially tricky to identify in patients with darker skin tones, where traditional medical resources and visual aids often fall short.

Dr. Alexis explains how CSU appears differently in skin of color, discussing the difficulty of capturing hives on black and brown skin and offering advice for photographing hives to share with your doctor.

Dr. Gupta and Dr. Alexis also delve into the lack of diversity in clinical research and medical literature, exploring how these gaps contribute to mistrust and delays in treatment for patients of color. We end with a discussion on whether patients have better outcomes with providers who reflect the patient’s background.

• Identifying CSU in Darker Skin Tones: Dr. Alexis shares insights on how hives appear on darker skin and gives tips for photographing hives accurately.

More resources about chronic hives in skin of color: 

• Chronic Urticaria Management, Resources & Glossary of Terms

This episode is produced in partnership with Allergy & Asthma Network, with special thanks to Genentech for sponsoring this episode.