The temptation to scratch an incessantly itchy bug chew may be very, very actual. However! All that scratching is fruitless, as a result of the chew 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 individual (literal) fingers, Andrea Suarez, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Houston, recommends reaching for a pimple patch.
“I do know you’ve got heard of those pimple patches, however you have to attempt them on a mosquito chew,” says Dr. Suarez in a latest Instagram submit. “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 virtually 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, often we’re principally bothered after we can see the response and the hypersensitivity inflammatory response or we are able to really feel the response, which is often itchy and generally painful,” says Dr. Lee. “And that every one rises due to irritation. So the best approach to deal with them—nicely, apart from clearly stopping it within the first place—is to focus on that irritation.”
As Dr. Suarez explains within the video, your physique’s inflammatory response is what causes a chew to refill with fluid. And since hydrocolloid patches work by absorbing extra fluid, making use of them to a bug chew is genius.
Seize any pimple patch you may have available, or choose up the Hero Cosmetics Mighty Patch Selection Pack ($14). It comes with 26 patches—12 Unique, 12 Invisible+, and two Floor (that are large rectangles).
“You possibly can go away [the patch] on in a single day, get up the subsequent morning, and the mosquito chew is virtually gone,” says Dr. Suarez. “Extremely counsel making an attempt hydrocolloid subsequent time you get a mosquito chew.” And since hydrocolloid patches should not be left on for greater than eight hours, as soon as you’re taking it off, you possibly can deal with the bug chew with cortisol cream, an antiinflammatory topical steroid.
So when you’re liable to bites and wish instantaneous aid, make sure to preserve pimple patches available.
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