Itching

My patients itch. Do yours?

This time of year, many of them say their backs itch, but the itch is not really their main concern. What worries them more is what the itch means. They know there are spots back there. They can feel them even if they can’t see them very well. Does the itch mean those spots are turning into something?

Sometimes those spots on their backs are moles. Sometimes they are seborrheic keratoses. But basically they’re all just innocent bystanders. Even if there does happen to be a superficial basal cell back there, any itch in the vicinity has nothing to do with any of the spots.

"Itching," I tell my patients, "is a sign that you are alive." After a short pause for mental processing, most of them smile. Being alive is good. Itch is your friend.

If they don’t smile and instead continue to look anguished, I sometimes freeze off some of their keratoses, just so they can feel reassured. You never know about those pesky growths. They’re benign today, but who knows about tomorrow? And they’re itchy, aren’t they? Doesn’t an itch mean something?

As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t mean much, or at least not much about malignant transformation. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and mostly an itch is just an itch. But to many of my patients, an itch is much more: Itch is change, itch is instability. Something is happening, something is changing, something is going on. Maybe one thing is turning into something else. Maybe it will.

Last week, I saw a thirtyish woman who wanted a skin check. One of her concerns was an itchy spot on her left shoulder. Lately, it had started to "move down" to her upper arm. As she admitted herself, there was absolutely nothing to be seen on the skin. She couldn’t possibly be worried about ...

Yes, she could. "This isn’t skin cancer, is it?" she asked. I assured her it was not. She seemed to believe me. I couldn’t remove anything anyway, because there was nothing to remove.

I don’t know where people get the idea that itch, especially when it applies to a mole or growth, means possible cancer. But wherever they get the idea, many of them certainly have it. They ask about it all the time. "I’m worried about that mole," they say.

"Do you think it’s changed, gotten larger or darker?"

"No, it looks the same. But now it itches."

People worry, not just about the itch, but about what happens when they scratch it. They’ve been warned since childhood not to scratch. Scratching can cause damage or infection. If what they’re scratching is a spot, then scratching can possibly turn the spot into ... don’t say it!

Of course, people complain about itching for a lot of reasons: They have eczema, or dry skin, or winter itch. Older folks have trouble sleeping because of itch. Office workers are embarrassed by itch – they have to leave meetings to keep their colleagues from twitching uncomfortably when they see them scratch. ("Like a monkey," is usually how they put it.) People who work in nursing homes or homeless shelters worry that they picked up a creepy-crawly from one of their clients. I once read that a king of England forbade commoners from scratching their itches, because scratching was so much fun that he wanted to reserve it for royalty. Couples married 7 years may get the itch. Treatises have been written about itching and scratching. I have not read them. Some things are better enjoyed than read about.

When the itch is accompanied by a visible rash – atopic eczema is the parade example – you treat the itch by treating the rash. When the patient has an itch but no rash other than scratch marks, it’s often best not just to treat the symptom, but to eliminate the worry that accompanies and exaggerates the symptom. No, the itch is not bugs. No, the itch is not liver disease. No, scratching will not cause damage, or you-know-what.

No, the itch is not cancer. There, I said it.

You itch. Itch is life. Celebrate!

Dr. Rockoff practices dermatology in Brookline, Mass. To respond to this column, e-mail him at our editorial offices at [email protected].

My patients itch. Do yours?

This time of year, many of them say their backs itch, but the itch is not really their main concern. What worries them more is what the itch means. They know there are spots back there. They can feel them even if they can’t see them very well. Does the itch mean those spots are turning into something?

Sometimes those spots on their backs are moles. Sometimes they are seborrheic keratoses. But basically they’re all just innocent bystanders. Even if there does happen to be a superficial basal cell back there, any itch in the vicinity has nothing to do with any of the spots.

"Itching," I tell my patients, "is a sign that you are alive." After a short pause for mental processing, most of them smile. Being alive is good. Itch is your friend.

If they don’t smile and instead continue to look anguished, I sometimes freeze off some of their keratoses, just so they can feel reassured. You never know about those pesky growths. They’re benign today, but who knows about tomorrow? And they’re itchy, aren’t they? Doesn’t an itch mean something?

As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t mean much, or at least not much about malignant transformation. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and mostly an itch is just an itch. But to many of my patients, an itch is much more: Itch is change, itch is instability. Something is happening, something is changing, something is going on. Maybe one thing is turning into something else. Maybe it will.

Last week, I saw a thirtyish woman who wanted a skin check. One of her concerns was an itchy spot on her left shoulder. Lately, it had started to "move down" to her upper arm. As she admitted herself, there was absolutely nothing to be seen on the skin. She couldn’t possibly be worried about ...

Yes, she could. "This isn’t skin cancer, is it?" she asked. I assured her it was not. She seemed to believe me. I couldn’t remove anything anyway, because there was nothing to remove.

I don’t know where people get the idea that itch, especially when it applies to a mole or growth, means possible cancer. But wherever they get the idea, many of them certainly have it. They ask about it all the time. "I’m worried about that mole," they say.

"Do you think it’s changed, gotten larger or darker?"

"No, it looks the same. But now it itches."

People worry, not just about the itch, but about what happens when they scratch it. They’ve been warned since childhood not to scratch. Scratching can cause damage or infection. If what they’re scratching is a spot, then scratching can possibly turn the spot into ... don’t say it!

Of course, people complain about itching for a lot of reasons: They have eczema, or dry skin, or winter itch. Older folks have trouble sleeping because of itch. Office workers are embarrassed by itch – they have to leave meetings to keep their colleagues from twitching uncomfortably when they see them scratch. ("Like a monkey," is usually how they put it.) People who work in nursing homes or homeless shelters worry that they picked up a creepy-crawly from one of their clients. I once read that a king of England forbade commoners from scratching their itches, because scratching was so much fun that he wanted to reserve it for royalty. Couples married 7 years may get the itch. Treatises have been written about itching and scratching. I have not read them. Some things are better enjoyed than read about.

When the itch is accompanied by a visible rash – atopic eczema is the parade example – you treat the itch by treating the rash. When the patient has an itch but no rash other than scratch marks, it’s often best not just to treat the symptom, but to eliminate the worry that accompanies and exaggerates the symptom. No, the itch is not bugs. No, the itch is not liver disease. No, scratching will not cause damage, or you-know-what.

No, the itch is not cancer. There, I said it.

You itch. Itch is life. Celebrate!

Dr. Rockoff practices dermatology in Brookline, Mass. To respond to this column, e-mail him at our editorial offices at [email protected].

My patients itch. Do yours?

This time of year, many of them say their backs itch, but the itch is not really their main concern. What worries them more is what the itch means. They know there are spots back there. They can feel them even if they can’t see them very well. Does the itch mean those spots are turning into something?

Sometimes those spots on their backs are moles. Sometimes they are seborrheic keratoses. But basically they’re all just innocent bystanders. Even if there does happen to be a superficial basal cell back there, any itch in the vicinity has nothing to do with any of the spots.

"Itching," I tell my patients, "is a sign that you are alive." After a short pause for mental processing, most of them smile. Being alive is good. Itch is your friend.

If they don’t smile and instead continue to look anguished, I sometimes freeze off some of their keratoses, just so they can feel reassured. You never know about those pesky growths. They’re benign today, but who knows about tomorrow? And they’re itchy, aren’t they? Doesn’t an itch mean something?

As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t mean much, or at least not much about malignant transformation. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and mostly an itch is just an itch. But to many of my patients, an itch is much more: Itch is change, itch is instability. Something is happening, something is changing, something is going on. Maybe one thing is turning into something else. Maybe it will.

Last week, I saw a thirtyish woman who wanted a skin check. One of her concerns was an itchy spot on her left shoulder. Lately, it had started to "move down" to her upper arm. As she admitted herself, there was absolutely nothing to be seen on the skin. She couldn’t possibly be worried about ...

Yes, she could. "This isn’t skin cancer, is it?" she asked. I assured her it was not. She seemed to believe me. I couldn’t remove anything anyway, because there was nothing to remove.

I don’t know where people get the idea that itch, especially when it applies to a mole or growth, means possible cancer. But wherever they get the idea, many of them certainly have it. They ask about it all the time. "I’m worried about that mole," they say.

"Do you think it’s changed, gotten larger or darker?"

"No, it looks the same. But now it itches."

People worry, not just about the itch, but about what happens when they scratch it. They’ve been warned since childhood not to scratch. Scratching can cause damage or infection. If what they’re scratching is a spot, then scratching can possibly turn the spot into ... don’t say it!

Of course, people complain about itching for a lot of reasons: They have eczema, or dry skin, or winter itch. Older folks have trouble sleeping because of itch. Office workers are embarrassed by itch – they have to leave meetings to keep their colleagues from twitching uncomfortably when they see them scratch. ("Like a monkey," is usually how they put it.) People who work in nursing homes or homeless shelters worry that they picked up a creepy-crawly from one of their clients. I once read that a king of England forbade commoners from scratching their itches, because scratching was so much fun that he wanted to reserve it for royalty. Couples married 7 years may get the itch. Treatises have been written about itching and scratching. I have not read them. Some things are better enjoyed than read about.

When the itch is accompanied by a visible rash – atopic eczema is the parade example – you treat the itch by treating the rash. When the patient has an itch but no rash other than scratch marks, it’s often best not just to treat the symptom, but to eliminate the worry that accompanies and exaggerates the symptom. No, the itch is not bugs. No, the itch is not liver disease. No, scratching will not cause damage, or you-know-what.

No, the itch is not cancer. There, I said it.

You itch. Itch is life. Celebrate!

Dr. Rockoff practices dermatology in Brookline, Mass. To respond to this column, e-mail him at our editorial offices at [email protected].