Things I Don’t Want: Dermatographia aka Skin Writing
Dermatographia is a condition in which lightly scratching your skin causes raised, red lines where you’ve scratched. It’s not serious, but it can be uncomfortable. In dermatographia, your skin cells are overly sensitive to minor injury, such as scratching. Signs and symptoms of dermatographia include redness, itching and swelling similar to hives.
The symptoms are thought to be caused by mast cells in the surface of the skin releasing histamines without the presence of antigens, due to the presence of a weak membrane surrounding the mast cells. The histamines released cause the skin to swell in the affected areas.
