Legs Itching - Reasons And What To Do? How To Treat?

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-31 10:00

Legs itch: what to do?

Legs can itch with varying intensity. Sometimes the itching is very weak, and sometimes quite pronounced. Severe scratching can even get sore and sore. The reasons why feet itch can be very diverse. To get rid of itching, you need to find out the cause.

Content:

• Causes of itchy feet
• The child's legs itch
• Only feet itch
• If your feet itch and redden
• Why do my legs itch after removing hair from them?
• How to treat?

Causes of itchy feet

Most often, it happens that in addition to itching in the legs of a person, other symptoms are worried. If you try to put them together, you can find the cause of the violation and get rid of it. First you need to think about the body's allergic reaction. Perhaps quite recently a person has eaten something unusual or stale. An abundance of sweet foods in the diet can provoke itching in the legs. In addition, allergies often occur to items of clothing - tights or knee-highs.

Sometimes the legs can itch due to a lack of moisture in the skin, or due to a lack of vitamins. Another reason for itchy lower limbs is shaving or depilation. Even dry and hard water can dry out the skin of the lower extremities and cause itching.

Diseases that can cause itchy legs:

• Diabetes.
• Liver pathology.
• Endocrine gland diseases.
• Varicose veins.

Also, the fungal nature of itching cannot be ruled out. Although sometimes it is triggered by the usual fatigue of the lower extremities.

Finally, insect bites such as mosquitoes and midges are an obvious cause of itchy feet.

Phlebeurysm

If for a long time a person suffers from varicose veins, then he may develop eczema and itching. Unpleasant sensations are disturbing regardless of the time of day. With varicose veins, changes are observed on the part of the skin. In places where sore veins pass, the skin becomes thinner, and constant scratching provokes the appearance of non-healing wounds.

To reduce discomfort, you can use the following guidelines:

• Wear stockings and shapewear.
• Take long walks.
• Apply hormonal creams and ointments to the affected area.

If the itching bothers you strongly, then to eliminate it, you can use a mixture of Lidocaine and vodka in the proportion of 4 ampoules to 50 ml. Application of the composition allows you to relieve itching for several hours.

It is not recommended to use alkaline soap for washing your feet, as it will increase itching. To normalize the acid-base balance of the skin, you can treat it with diluted boric acid or lemon juice.

Read more: Varicose veins - causes, symptoms and complications

Diabetes

If a person develops diabetes mellitus, then the whole body will suffer, but the disease can manifest itself in the itching of a certain part of the body. Therefore, it is often the legs that itch with high blood sugar levels.

To make the itching less intense, you can clean the blood, or use the following recipes:

• Mix 200 ml warm water with 2 diphenhydramine tablets and a teaspoon of baking soda. This composition should treat the skin of the legs. This will help relieve itching for a while.
• You can wipe the dermis with apple or cucumber juice.
• In the morning, on an empty stomach, you can drink a tablespoon of vegetable oil. You can also take it before bed, a few hours after your last meal.
• In the evening, it is recommended to take baths with potato starch, or with a decoction of nettle.
• Tea with black currant leaves, string and tricolor violets is useful for health. For two parts of currant leaves, take one part of a string and violets.

You need to understand that none of the listed recipes will allow you to get rid of diabetes. All of them are aimed only at eliminating itching. Treatment of the disease comes down to controlling blood glucose levels. To do this, first of all, you need to work out your diet. It is useful to eat fresh berries (mountain ash, cranberries, gooseberries), celery, sorrel. Such products not only heal the body as a whole, but also improve the quality of the blood.

Read more: Causes, Signs and Symptoms of Diabetes Mellitus

Pregnancy

Itching in the lower extremities begins to bother some women, starting in the second half of pregnancy. Although this symptom is not common. Sometimes the skin on those parts of the legs where it itches most intensely becomes yellowish. Itching worsens, mainly at night.

During gestation, the level of estrogen in the body of a pregnant woman increases. This leads to stagnation of bile. The accumulation of bile acids provokes itchy skin. If during such a period of her life a woman takes a blood test, then the results of the study will show an increase in the level of bilirubin and ALT.

To make your legs itch less during pregnancy, you must use the following recommendations:

• Shower should be taken at least 2 times a day and even more often.
• After the bath, the skin should be treated with cosmetic oils or body milk.
• Activated charcoal should be taken once a day. For every 10 kg of weight, take 1 tablet of the drug.
• To reduce itching at the pharmacy, you can ask to sell a special talker.
• After consulting a doctor, you can take a course of medicines. It can be No-shpa or Karsil. These drugs help to normalize the liver.
• To combat dry skin, you can use products containing cocoa butter or aloe.
• While taking a bath, you can add softeners to the water.
• Do not use products that contain alcohol for skin care.

Most often, after the baby is born, the itching goes away. No drug should be taken without first consulting a doctor.

Sometimes during pregnancy, itchy skin is caused by allergies. To eliminate its manifestations, it is necessary to follow a diet and exclude contact with potential allergens.

The child's legs itch

Children may also complain of itchy feet. The most common cause of this symptom is an allergic reaction in the body. It can be caused by insect bites, skin contact with household chemicals, and taking medications.

Hives are common in children under 5 years of age. At the same time, large red spots appear on the skin of the legs and on other parts of the body, which slightly rise above the surface of the dermis. Such rashes are very itchy. In some cases, even a comprehensive examination does not allow identifying an allergen. To minimize the risk of developing such a reaction of the body, it is necessary to exclude contacts of the baby's skin with unnatural tissues.

To find out the cause of the allergy, you must visit an allergist. The doctor will prescribe special tests. Treatment is reduced to taking antihistamines. Sometimes hormonal ointments are prescribed.

If the skin itches on the knee joints, the baby may develop eczema. This pathology can be inherited. In addition, the flexor surfaces of the arms, face and neck itch. When a child scratches the affected area, he can become infected. In this case, the course of the pathology is complicated. For the treatment of eczema, the same drugs are used as for allergies. If suppuration occurs, then antibacterial agents must be used.

Only feet itch

The skin on the soles of the feet will itch if its integrity is compromised.

Factors that can provoke such damage:

• Allergization of the body.
• Jar of Hearts.
• Fungal infection.
• Frostbite of the lower extremities.
• Insect bites.
• Corns.
• Infectious diseases.

If the feet itch due to allergies, then in addition to this symptom, other parts of the body will itch in a person, and symptoms characteristic of this disease will also appear.

Scabies is an infection that causes severe itching. The scabies mite affects not only the feet, but also the hands and abdomen. At night, the skin itches especially intensely. Bubbles appear on it, which merge into strips. These are the paths along which the scabies mite "travels" inside the dermis. It will not be possible to get rid of scabies without appropriate therapy. If at least one family member develops this disease, then all close people should receive medication. Most often, children suffer from the disease, although you can catch the infection in almost any public place. Sometimes it is enough to grab the handrail on the bus to become infected.

Video: What does an itch mite look like?

Foot fungus is another common condition that causes severe itching. It occurs as the disease progresses. Mycotic microorganisms produce toxins that poison the human body as a whole. The skin on the legs begins to peel off and burn, and may become covered with small papules filled with fluid. If left untreated, the fungus will spread to the outer part of the foot and to the nail plate.

If your feet itch and redden

If the legs are itchy and covered with red spots, then this may be a symptom of erysipelas. The disease threatens the development of elephantiasis, as it worsens lymphatic drainage.

Streptococci provoke erysipelas. At first, a person simply begins to feel bad, his body temperature rises. The appearance of a red spot on the leg is a secondary symptom of the disease, or its relapse. Moreover, it can happen even 6 months after the first episode of inflammation.

The spot is slightly swollen and painful. It hurts at first, and then it starts to itch.

Antibiotics are required to treat the disease. As a rule, improvement occurs quickly, within 24 hours from the start of therapy. The stain should be smeared with antibacterial creams. Also shown is the use of antihistamines, which can eliminate the symptoms of the disease.

Why do my legs itch after removing hair from them?

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Shaving your legs can irritate your skin. She begins to itch, becomes covered with red spots. To reduce the likelihood of inflammation, it is necessary to change machines more often, not to use them for years.

The razor should be sharp so as not to injure the skin. You can use machines that are equipped with a special strip soaked in aloe extract. This will help soothe the skin after shaving and also has a mild disinfectant effect.

During the procedure, it is best not to use soap, but special shaving products. These can be creams and foams. It is good if they contain vitamin E or aloe vera. The use of such products avoids irritation and itching of the skin. The procedure should be carried out in the bathroom or in the shower, as the effect of warm water helps to remove hairs.

You should not shave your legs right before leaving the house. If you then put on stockings on your feet, then the likelihood of itching increases. It is best to remove hair in the evening so that the skin has time to regenerate.

You can't shave your legs against hair growth. This increases the likelihood of irritation.

How to treat?

If it is not possible to identify the causes of the itching, then it is necessary to take an antihistamine that will reduce this symptom. Anti-anxiety drugs may also be prescribed. It is possible to carry out physiotherapeutic treatment: electrosleep, contrast shower, baths with sea salt, etc.

Special products should be applied to itchy skin. It can be tincture of metol, diphenhydramine, salicylic acid of 2% concentration, carbolic acid.

You can lubricate the skin of your feet with a solution of vinegar and water in a 1: 3 ratio. It is good to treat the dermis with creams and ointments that have an antipruritic effect. First, the skin of the legs must be disinfected. Novocaine blockade is an extreme measure that allows you to get rid of itching. It is used when other methods of treatment fail to achieve the desired effect.

The author of the article: Kuzmina Vera Valerievna | Endocrinologist, nutritionist

Education: Diploma of the Russian State Medical University named after NI Pirogov with a degree in General Medicine (2004). Residency at Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry, diploma in Endocrinology (2006).