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.

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 ...

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.

Researchers might have finally scratched below the surface of this medical mystery. Itchiness is a common symptom of various skin conditions, but why that is has long been unclear — until now. A new ...

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 ...

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 ...

Journalist Annie Lowrey has a rare disease that causes a near-constant itch that doesn't respond to most treatments. She likens the itchiness to a... Chronic itch is miserable. Scientists are just ...

We've all had bug bites, or dry scalp, or a sunburn that causes itch. But what if you felt itchy all the time — and there was no relief? Journalist Annie Lowrey suffers from primary biliary ...