Cluster headache: histamine skin tests in the painful area.

Histamine skin tests were performed in the painful area and on the opposite side in ten cluster headache patients. The studies were carried out with and without local anaesthesia. No differences between histamine skin response in the painful region compared with the contralateral side were revealed. This study concerns the part of the triple response which is the result of a direct action of histamine on the skin vasculature (mediated by both H1 and H2) histaminergic receptors, i.e. wheal and redness, and the flare, which is the result of neurohumoral mechanisms.