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
