The scratch due to the finger nail and the rub due to the finger tip

Leprosy Mailing List,
June 3rd, 2009
Ref.: The scratch due to the finger nail and the rub due to the finger tip
From: Ryan T., Oxford, UK

Dear Salvatore,

This is a response to Ben Naafs (LML June 2nd, 2009). He is of course right that scratch marks are not a feature of several conditions that itch, I might add chronic urticaria other than dermographism.

Itching is however a subjective symptom and those who have tried to measure it have had to use scratch, or at least the movement which brings the fingers to the exact site of the irritation, as the only reliable measure of it.

There is a difference between the scratch due to the finger nail and the rub due to the finger tip. No one has explained why these two responses are needed.

Terence Ryan