The temptation to scratch an incessantly itchy bug chunk could be very, very actual. However! All that scratching is fruitless, as a result of the chunk will inevitably nonetheless be itchy when you draw back, with the added uncomfortable bonus of being extra irritated, too. As a substitute of taking issues into your personal (literal) palms, Andrea Suarez, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Houston, recommends reaching for a pimple patch.
“I do know you have heard of those pimple patches, however you have to strive them on a mosquito chunk,” says Dr. Suarez in a latest Instagram publish. “The hydrocolloid helps to soak up that inflammatory stuff that makes it very itchy and swell up, and it additionally serves as a barrier stopping you from scratching. It nearly takes the itch away instantly.”
What makes mosquito bites so uncomfortable is the inflammatory response, explains Ivy Lee, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Pasadena, California.
“After we get bug bites, normally we’re largely bothered after we can see the response and the hypersensitivity inflammatory response or we are able to really feel the response, which is normally itchy and generally painful,” says Dr. Lee. “And that each one rises due to irritation. So the simplest method to deal with them—nicely, in addition to clearly stopping it within the first place—is to focus on that irritation.”
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As Dr. Suarez explains within the video, your physique’s inflammatory response is what causes a chunk to refill with fluid. And since hydrocolloid patches work by absorbing extra fluid, making use of them to a bug chunk is genius.
Seize any pimple patch you will have available, or choose up the Hero Cosmetics Mighty Patch Selection Pack ($14). It comes with 26 patches—12 Authentic, 12 Invisible+, and two Floor (that are huge rectangles).
“You possibly can depart [the patch] on in a single day, get up the subsequent morning, and the mosquito chunk is virtually gone,” says Dr. Suarez. “Extremely counsel attempting hydrocolloid subsequent time you get a mosquito chunk.” And since hydrocolloid patches should not be left on for greater than eight hours, as soon as you’re taking it off, you may deal with the bug chunk with cortisol cream, an antiinflammatory topical steroid.
So for those who’re liable to bites and wish prompt aid, make sure you maintain pimple patches available.
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