Last night, Hubby and I sat down to eat dinner. I started eating and in a matter of minutes, Hubby had whipped off his shoes and applied hydrocortisone cream to his feet before he ate his dinner. At first I figured his eczema was acting up…..and then I thought about chiggers from the lake this weekend…but the more i thought about it…Punky and I were also in the water and on shore, so that can’t be it! So I left it at eczema.

This morning while I was sleeping, Hubby came into the room and said, “What about chiggers? Look at this!” and showed me his feet. OUCH! I told him I had thought about that too, but Punky and I hadn’t had any symptoms…but then he explained that he was in the water/weeds on Sunday and we hadn’t been. Ewwww!

I had chiggers about 11 years ago this summer as some of us went camping on the banks of teh Missisippi River over Labor Day weekend. Yikes! That was the first week my teaching profession kicked off….and I itched like nobody’s business! I had never heard of the little things…and my ex-butthead of a boyfriend had many “remedies” for this…including the clear nail polish, Fels-Naptha soap (THAT HURT!).

So before I make Hubby do anything drastic, I thought I’d do some research….

Facts About Chiggers

Chiggers, which are also called harvest mites or red bugs, are very small and can not usually be seen without a magnifying glass or microscope. Their ‘bite’ also isn’t usually noticeable, which is why you usually don’t even know you were around chiggers until you start itching and notice the rash about 12 or 24 hours later. Once on your body, they typically move around looking for a good place to feed, which is usually a thin layer of skin.

They will also begin to feed if they reach a barrier, such as the waistband of your clothes or your armpit. But chiggers don’t even really bite you in the traditional sense, like a mosquito does. Instead, they attach themselves to your skin, inject saliva with digestive enzymes that helps to break down your skin cells, which the chigger drinks. It is these enzymes that cause the itchy rash.

Although chiggers can stay attached to your skin for several days and continue eating, they are very easily brushed off and are usually knocked off once you begin to scratch the rash or take a shower or bath. That is why it can be a good idea to have your kids take a quick shower or bath after they have been playing outside in any type of ‘wild’ areas of your neighborhood. Another good reason is just so you can wash off any insect repellent that you had put on.

Myths About Chiggers

One of the biggest myths or misconceptions about chiggers is that they can burrow under your skin and drink your blood. This leads to the common treatment for chiggers of putting clear nail polish on chigger bites to suffocate the chiggers. Since chiggers don’t actually burrow under your skin, this ‘treatment’ is unnecessary.

Treatments for Chigger Bites

While nail polish isn’t a good treatment for chigger bites, anything that can help control the itching can be helpful, including:

• take a bath or shower as soon as possible after any possible exposure to chiggers
• apply your favorite OTC anti-itch medication, such as hydrocortisone, Calamine lotion, Sarna, oatmeal baths, etc.
• oral Benadryl
• a prescription strength steroid cream

Although chiggers in North America don’t usually carry any diseases, the bites themselves can get infected.

Avoiding Chigger Bites

Since not going outside and being active is not good advice and unlike poison ivy, it is hard to spot and avoid chiggers, it is important to learn other ways to avoid chiggers and chigger bites. This can include avoiding wearing clothing that put you at risk for chigger bites, such as sandals without socks, sleeveless shirts, and shorts. Instead, wear long pants made of tightly woven fabric, long sleeved shirts, and high top boots or shoes. As an added defense, it can help to tuck your pant legs into your shoes or boots. Insect repellents are another good way to help you avoid chiggers. In addition to applying it on your exposed skin, it can help to apply your insect repellent around your ankles, wrists, neck, and waist, which is where the chiggers often gain access to the rest of your body through your shoes, shirt, pants, and shoes.

Another good way to avoid chigger bites is to keep them out of your backyard, especially if your lawn is infested with chiggers. Since chiggers like high grass and weeds, keeping your lawn well groomed and treating the infested area with an insecticide may be helpful.

So,Hubby…..I will go buy you more hydrocortisone, cream….and I’ll pity you as you put it on tonight.