Vulvodynia and facticious urticaria.

Background. The term vulvodynia describes a multifactorial syndrome of chro nic vulvar discomfort with burning, itching, pain, and dyspareunia. Due to the paucity of clinical signs, this syndrome is often perceived as a predom inantly psychiatric problem. A context of symptomatic dermographism has bee n reported in rare instances. Patients and methods. In our interdisciplinary consultation of vulvar derma tology, we routinely look for the presence of facticious urticaria. In the last 17 months, we observed 14 patients with an association of facticious u rticaria and vulvodynia. Results. The principal symptoms were itching and burning. Sexual intercours e, tight clothes, and stress were most often cited as aggravating factors. The efficacy of a systemic antihistaminic treatment observed in our patient s suggests that certain cases of vulvodynia might be an expression of sympt omatic dermographism. Discussion. Therefore, a check-up for chronic vulvar discomfort should comp rise a test for the presence of facticious whealing. The prevalence of a ca usal relationship between chronic Vulvar discomfort and facticious whealing remains to be established.