Who hasn’t heard mom say “don’t scratch, it’s worse” while trying to stop the irritant with her nails? itching your skin? It doesn’t matter if it’s an insect bite or a rash. They always say that because deep down it’s true. He scratching It has the necessary function, but only to a certain extent. If we go too far, it will become completely counterproductive, which will only make the situation worse. But after,why do we itch?
Initially, the goal is to eliminate any agent that may be causing skin damage. It could be an insect that has bitten us, a speck of dust, or fibers of certain types of fabrics. In any of these cases skin nerve receptors They send a signal to the brain, which is converted into a message about itching, and the hand immediately begins to itch. This is an almost automatic process. That’s why when our mother told us not to itch as children, we couldn’t do anything about it. That’s why we itch.
Unfortunately, itching is not always caused by something that can be relieved by simply scratching. We can remove a mosquito while it is biting us, but not the bite itself. There’s nothing we can do about a rash caused by an allergy, although we might be able to remove the speck of dust that caused the reaction. There are even people who suffer from chronic itching for no reason. This is where scratches can become something even more annoying than the itching itself.
Why do we still itch when there is nothing that can be removed?
In fact, the reason why we itch is quite complex. We have seen that if there is something on our skin that might irritate us, we automatically scratch it to get rid of it. This can happen with irritant fiber, but not when rubbing other tissues. We also have the urge to scratch when a mosquito lands on our hand, but not when someone strokes it. How can it be that sometimes we itch and sometimes we don’t? And even more important. Why do we itch even if there is nothing to remove?
Good. There is an itching sensation worries. This is what makes us rub our skin with our nails. So it could be a warning sign that something is wrong internally, such as a food allergy or inflammation. In these cases, scratching may temporarily stop the itching as it causes a slight sensation of pain masking the itching.
This only happens when there is actually something that can harm us. For years, scientists didn’t understand how this happened, but a study in mice was published in 2015 that identified a possible explanation.
Its authors suspected that the cause might lie in the action of nerve cells known as inhibitory spinal interneurons. They are known to act through the spinal cord. Itching is controlled by sending signals along this pathway, but in some cases the signal is suppressed and does not reach the brain. These neurons control which itch is necessary and which is not. The hypothesis was confirmed by testing that mice that lacked or lacked these interneurons felt more itching when confronted with almost any irritant.
Chronic itching problem
This study was very helpful in finding possible therapeutic ways to combat corneal itching. This occurs in approximately 8.4% of the population and can be very annoying. According to these results in mice, patients with this disorder may lack inhibitory interneurons, so it may be possible to study how to reproduce its effects.
Why don’t we scratch too much?
When we scratch a lot, we can remove some of the outer skin cells, causing irritation and redness. It is also found in neuronal receptors in the skin, so the signal goes to the brain and is converted back into itch. As a result, the itching does not decrease, but continues to intensify.
In addition, when we scratch, there is a slight sensation of pain, which increases the production of serotonin. It is a neurotransmitter that helps control pain. When this happens, the itching returns, so the brain causes it to secrete more serotonin And everything starts again. More and more serotonin is required, so the itching becomes more intense. In this case, the reason why we itch is no longer a good thing.
To prevent this from happening, it is ideal to use products that soothe the itch so that we don’t have the strong urge to scratch. And, in fact, sometimes we can’t do anything else. This is not our fault, but our brain, which takes care of us and little by little betrays us.
Source: Hiper Textual
