Background: Solar urticaria is a rare photodermatosis which often begins from the third to the fifth decade. Usual treatment consists of photoprotection measures and antihistamines although disease control is sometimes unsatisfactory with both. We report herein a very severe case of solar urticaria we treated with intravenous immunoglobulins.
Case-report: A 55-year-old woman suffered for 3 years from very severe solar urticaria which resisted treatment. Phototests revealed two action spectra: the first in UVA near 380 nm with a minimal urticarian dose of 0.025 J/cm(2), the second near 500 nm in visible light.
Results: As last resort treatment, we gave our patient intravenous immunoglobulins. After the third course of treatment, the improvement was impressive as the patient could tolerate visible light and 15 minutes of intense solar exposure. The minimal urticarian dose was raised from 0.025 J/cm(2) to 27 J/cm(2) in UVA. One year after treatment, the solar urticaria has disappeared.
Conclusions: We report herein the first case of solar urticaria treated with success with immunoglobulin. Intravenous immunoglobulin treatment is well for its effectiveness in many autoimmune diseases such as autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura, and also, as recently proven, in some cases of severe idiopathic chronic urticaria.