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.

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 ...

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 ...

Have you ever wondered why scratching sometimes makes itching even worse? The neurotransmitter serotonin has been fingered as one troublemaker as the brain tries to control pain caused by scratching.

Any doctor—or parent—will warn you that scratching an itch will only make it worse. But it turns out it has a surprise ...

Russell has a PhD in the history of medicine, violence, and colonialism. His research has explored topics including ethics, science governance, and medical involvement in violent contexts. Russell has ...

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 ...

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 ...

You can combat the vicious cycle caused by atopic dermatitis — aka eczema, a condition in which scratching leads to more itching — with simple but effective methods and treatments. Tanya Trevett, who ...

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 ...