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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

The itch from bug bites, rashes, and other skin conditions can sometimes be so overpowering that it feels impossible to avoid scratching them. But new research explains why you might want to hold off ...

That itchy feeling isn’t just in your head, in some cases it might actually be all over you. And it may literally get on your nerves. New research published Wednesday in Cell indicates that a common ...

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? It can be a relief to scratch the ...

Scratching an itch can be really satisfying but also annoying at times. You often find yourself mindlessly scratching your ...