All Puffed Up Angioedema - Managing Your Allergies: Allergies
Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School
All puffed up: Angioedema
Angioedema refers to swelling of parts of the body, similar to hives but occurring in deeper tissues. Typically it involves the tissues around the eyes, lips, tongue, or throat. Angioedema is life-threatening when it affects the throat, because it can block off the air supply to the lungs. The condition can also affect other parts of the body with severe hive-like swelling.
As with hives, acute episodes can be due to allergies to certain foods, drugs, or stinging insects. Persistent episodes of angioedema recurring over several weeks or months are, like chronic hives, unlikely to come from an allergy. The diagnosis and management is similar to that of chronic hives. Because there are several forms of angioedema, it’s important for your doctor to rule out any non-allergic underlying causes of the swelling.
| Last updated: | August 21, 2006 |
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| Reviewed By: | Faculty of Harvard Medical School |
Medical content reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Harvard Health Publications, Copyright © 2007 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell.
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