Solar Urticaria Differential Diagnoses

Updated: Apr 11, 2022
  • Author: Marc Zachary Handler, MD; Chief Editor: Dirk M Elston, MD  more...
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DDx

Diagnostic Considerations

Polymorphous light eruption is much more common than solar urticaria and may affect the same sites, but the lesions do not subside as quickly upon cessation of sun exposure

Erythropoietic protoporphyria usually manifests earlier in life [11]

Lupus erythematosus is more common in women, and signs and symptoms, other than dermatologic ones, accompany the acute systemic form; localized cutaneous forms have different morphologies (eg, discoid, papulosquamous, annular), but lupus erythematosus should be excluded through laboratory test findings

Photocontact dermatitis manifests in a pattern suggestive of the contactant or allergen and does not totally disappear upon discontinuation of sun exposure

Miliaria rubra (heat rash) can be mistaken for solaria urticaria

Churg-Strauss syndrome may manifest solar urticaria [12]

Differential Diagnoses