Pruritic Urticarial Papules And Plaques Of Pregnancy

Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy, or polymorphic eruption of pregnancy, develops late in pregnancy. It usually appears first in abdominal striae before spreading to other areas. The eruption clears soon after delivery. Weiss and Hull (1992) reported 2 affected sisters in each of 2 families. In one family the sisters were identical twins married to identical twins. This was the first report of familial occurrence. Each of the 4 women was a primigravida. Weiss and Hull (1992) favored the possibility of a shared maternal reaction to a common paternal influence, possibly a paternal antigen expressed late in pregnancy or released into the maternal circulation with placental degeneration near term.