Scabies: 3 Reasons to Avoid scratching Yourself

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3 reasons to avoid scratching yourself

The Scabies itch Guidebook:

Here are some reasons to avoid over-itching and damaging your skin.

I know it’s extremely tempting to scratch your skin when you have Scabies. Even that is an understatement, it is?RIDICULOUS how much these damn mites make you want to dig into your skin.

Related: How to Get Rid of Scabies at Home Fast

My recommendation is to avoid scratch as much as possible. I know I am going against the grain here by telling you should?avoid doing what your body is screaming at you to do?- but hear me out.

The 3 reasons are as follows:

1) You will spread the mites, everywhere.

A really big part of eliminating your scabies infestation is containment. You want the mites to stay on/in your skin until your treatments are able to kill them effectively at the source. You don’t want to be spreading the mites all over your house/car/workplace because you will likely reinfect yourself, or even worse infect those around you, which also will likely result in you getting reinfected later on. Not fun.

Every time?you scratch your skin you’re likely to pick up mites and dead skin under your nails.?Not only will you be spreading the mites across your body, you will be spreading them throughout your environment.

So say you scratch your heavily infested arms; chances are you will get some mites stuck in your fingernails or hand. There they will stay until you scratch yourself somewhere else – say your not so infested ankle – or touch something else in your environment like the door to your car. Now the mites will sit at their new location waiting to be picked up again by their favorite tasty food source (you) or by a new, unsuspecting poor soul.

In addition, with heavy scratching the mites and dead skin can be introduced into the open air. They will either fall directly to the ground and contaminate your carpet/couch, or they will catch a draft and float to who knows where.?

This is tremendously problematic because?the mites can live for multiple days without food. This is doubly problematic if they are attached to pieces of dead skin as their lifespan will extend even longer because they have a food source to nibble on (your dead skin cells) for days to come.

2) You will put added stress on your skin.

Having scabies is rough on the skin. I mean bugs living in your skin, slurping your blood and leaving allergenic?debris?in their wake. Destructive, gross and nightmarish.

When you scratch at your skin you are only burying those issues deeper. You are embedding the scabies and their excrement deeper into the layers of your skin and you run the risk of secondary infection from opening up new wounds.

So while it’s temporarily relieving when you scratch (and I mean very?temporary), you are actually just creating more damage and more potential for itching down the road since you will have to deal with skin irritation for longer. This also means you will have a harder time deciphering real scabies from post scabies since you will be guaranteed to continue to feel itchy long after the scabies have been killed off.

3) You will likely only make the itching worse.

I’ve already eluded to this. But yeah, pretty straight forward. The only thing scratching yourself provides is momentary pleasure.

It doesn’t make the itch go away – it actually makes it more intense.

The temporary relief it provides is nice but it also ensures continued long term discomfort. It could even help to spread the infestation.

9 thoughts on “Scabies: 3 Reasons to Avoid scratching Yourself”

  1. Hello I have an 22 year old special needs daughter who has scabies just find out Monday just great don t stratch oh Lord she is itching to me well baking soda in a way helped her itch some I got to call the nurse practioner tomorrow she is going to have to give her something.

    She feels she caught from someone at her day support center and was contacting person who oversees program seems anybody with a rash the doctor she started with a rash early part of last month went to er think doctor said a form of eczema I have that well been to ER twice last week.

    One day she had some kind of another rash next time eczema this is nerving as all get out me being her caregiver having to wash this that clean cleaned little to much on today my husband helped me I see you mentioned two weeks to yourself .

    Does that mean she should stay home that long really she has missed like 12 days I guess call Friday off let me know thanks for all the helpful information oh as her caregiver what can I do I wear plastic gloves when putting cream on I have noone to help me so hard not to be in contact with her.

  2. Karen Bauer

    Ok I can’t not itch. I have so tried. So I have a question. I have been picking sore an this gooey crap comes out. Is this not the eggs.. And also everytime I open a sore I been “so” treating with perm cream . Wouldn’t you think that would help kill the eggs an mite. Just curious as even before I picked till they bleed I can’t seem to get rid of them . I have sprayed bed with bug spray, lysol , winded , even mosquito killer , expired lindane and I am at wits end. Ok its more then 1 question . does anyone have an answer. Thanks

    1. I just came back from the e.r because of this and the only way to get rid of them is with a prescribed cream or antibiotic! The only way to get them out of your clothes blankets or anything of that sort is wash them in extremely hot water and dry them in the hottest temp your dryer has! The more you scratch the itch the more u are spreading the mites! Google scabies and it will show u what they look like and how u get them and how to treat then! I hate this crap I feel like I got a disease! Ugghhh! Until u get to the doctor u can take benadryl and use a hydrocortisone cream to help with the itch, this isn’t the cure but it does help you not to scratch and spread the infestation! Hope this helped

    2. Use the medicine from doctor then use ninety percent rubbing alcohol first then tea tree oil on bumps. Until gone.

  3. Put footlets on your hands to calm the itching

  4. A smith

    My kids brought these home. Use the pymethren cream and then use it a week later. Then wipe skin with ninety percent rubbing alcohol and use tea tree oil over the alchocol on bumps pimples lines even in your scalp. Till there gone. Do not give up!

  5. Tess Dvorak

    We are at the end..I hope. But the itching is still crazy. I have hearad you will still itch and get bumps until your skin heals.

  6. Sarah Cummings

    I agree! As much as we want to scratch our skin, we’ll only cause more damage and irritation. Better to consult our doctors when having extreme itchiness.

  7. I was babysitting my grandmas foster children because she took 2 youngest to the doctor and found out they have scabies. I was sitting on the couch, is that enough to get them? As soon as I got home, I put my clothes into a bag, took a hot shower and scrubbed everywhere, then put clean clothes. Should I be worried? I also had her little boy sitting on my lap, but he doesn’t show any signs of scabies but he does live with the 2 kids that do.

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