What’s common between a scratchy sweater, a mosquito bite, and poison ivy? A brush with any of them guarantees an itchy spot on the skin. Scratching that itch is extremely tempting because of how ...

One of the greatest pleasures in life is to scratch an itch — in both the real and figurative sense. Although scratching an itch provides immediate (albeit temporary) relief, it may actually trigger ...

Despite the saying “happiness is having a scratch for every itch,” itching often makes the itchy skin condition worse. So why is the instinct so strong? In a study with mice, researchers from the ...

If you love to scratch an itchy rash, good news! A new study reveals scratching a rash has upsides -- along with the downsides your mom warned you about. suriya - stock.adobe.com Scratching an itchy ...

I remember it well: our dark winter of itch when the kids were small. It started with a note sent home—years before the pandemic—that my child had been exposed, not to a deadly virus but to lice.

It can be a relief to scratch the occasional itch, but when itch gets out of control, it can become a serious health problem. How does the body know when to stop? Scientists at UC San Francisco are ...

MINNEAPOLIS — As winter finally makes its presence felt, so does a symptom of the frigid air. Dry skin is forming and many of you might treat it in a painful, yet relieving way. Why does dry skin itch ...

Your parents were right: Scratching an itchy rash really does make it worse. Now we know why, thanks to new research published today in the journal Science that uncovers how scratching aggravates ...

When normal mice were allowed to scratch, their ears became swollen and filled with inflammatory immune cells called neutrophils. In contrast, inflammation and swelling were much milder in normal mice ...