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Scabies Symptoms & Remedies

Scabies is a commonly experienced skin infection that manifests itself as small itchy bumps and blisters. It is caused due to tiny mites that inhabit the top layer of our skin in order to lay their eggs. You can see their burrows as short, wavy, reddish or darkened lines on your skin, chiefly at the wrists and between the fingers.

It is contagious, and is transmitted from one person’s skin to another’s through sexual contact. If you are in a congested place, you are likelier to contract this infection.

Causes of scabies: Caused by a mite called Sarcoptes scabiei that is barely visible to the naked eye, it causes symptoms when it digs a burrow or little tunnel below the skin that results in an allergy. You can only contract scabies by sexual contact and from touching something that the mite is on.

Signs and symptoms: The first sign of scabies is the itching that may worsen at night or after you’ve had a hot bath. What begins as a small itchy bump, blister, or pus-filled bumps that break out upon scratching may turn into large scale itchy skin, thick, scaly and crisscrossed skin with definite scratch marks.

You can find these marks on the hands, feet, in the webs of the fingers and toes, inner part of the wrists, and the folds under the arms, elbows, breasts, genitals, navel and buttocks.

Treatment: By keeping yourself clean and taking over-the-counter medicines is certainly not the best prescription for you—instead, visit your doctor. Scabies is usually treated with the following two medicines:

• Permethrin cream: Keep this on for about 8-12 hours or overnight before washing off.
• Malathion lotion: Use a small brush to apply this lotion on the affected areas of your body. However, do not apply this soon after a hot bath as the lotion will be absorbed far deeper into the body to work effectively on the surface of the skin. If you wash your hands in this 24-hour period, reapply the lotion.

After using these medicines, it is usual for your itching to continue for about three weeks. For relief from itching, use a topical corticosteroid or an anti-histamine, use calamine lotion and take cool showers.

Home remedies: Try out these home remedies for scabies:

• Extract the juice of apricot leaves and apply them over all the infected parts of your body.
• Make a paste of fresh or dried neem leaves and an equal quantity of turmeric powder mixed with mustard oil. Apply the mixture on the body and leave for an hour or so and have a bath. Continue for 7-10 days till the lesions heal.

Don’t let the fact that you suffer from scabies make you feel inhibited or embarrassed. This is a common enough condition that is easily curable. So, don’t shy away from doctors—let him see your lesions and cure you as quickly as possible.