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[music] Hello, I’m Dr. Neal Schultz
[pause]
and welcome to DermTV.
One of the most annoying sensations that we experience is itching. What do
most people do when they itch? They scratch because the scratching stops
the itching and makes it feel better. But they don’t realize that
scratching actually causes more itching and makes it worse. So one of my
favorite tips for helping people deal with and stop their itching is to put
on a lotion that contains menthol. It makes you feel better, and let me
explain why because I think the way it works is really neat.
Itching is a form of pain, it starts in the skin, goes through your nerves,
through the body, and up to the brain. Your brain reads “itch” and you
don’t like that. Menthol, when it’s put on the skin, stimulates a different
nerve that creates a message of cooling to the brain and it sends the
message to cool in the brain faster than the nerves send the message to
itch. So the cooling gets there before the itching and your brain can’t
read both. So if your brain cannot experience both, it only reads what gets
their first, which is the cooling. Itching is an irritaton and so is
cooling, but we call this a counter-irritant because we prefer the
sensation of cooling to the sensation of itching. So the next time you
itch, instead of scratching, apply a lotion with menthol, such as Sarna
lotion which is available without a prescription in your local pharmacy,
and you’ll stop itching without causing any harm.
Please join me again at DermTV.com. If you have a question, please send it
to me by visiting DermTV.com/question. I’m Dr. Neal Schultz and thank you
for watching today.