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 an alternative of taking issues into your personal (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 put up. “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.
“Once we get bug bites, often we’re principally bothered once we can see the response and the hypersensitivity inflammatory response or we will really feel the response, which is often itchy and typically painful,” says Dr. Lee. “And that every one rises due to irritation. So the simplest approach to deal with them—properly, moreover 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 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 decide up the Hero Cosmetics Mighty Patch Selection Pack ($14). It comes with 26 patches—12 Authentic, 12 Invisible+, and two Floor (that are massive rectangles).
“You possibly can depart [the patch] on in a single day, get up the following morning, and the mosquito chew is virtually gone,” says Dr. Suarez. “Extremely counsel attempting 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’ll be able to deal with the bug chew with cortisol cream, an antiinflammatory topical steroid.
So if you happen to’re liable to bites and need prompt aid, remember to hold pimple patches available.
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