How to Soothe Itchy Mosquito Bites

I am one of those unfortunate souls who, for reasons still poorly explained by science, seem to taste delicious to mosquitoes. Like my father, who taught me as a child that the best way to stop an itch was to press an “x” into the center of the bite with your fingernail. It hurt a little, but that was the point: the pain made me forget about the itch, at least for a while.

Search online and you’ll find a long list of tips for stopping the itch, like putting a scorching spoon on the bite or using The Bug Bite Thing, a suction tool that’s supposed to draw mosquito saliva from the skin. People swear by ice, aloe, bandages and sheer willpower to resist the urge to scratch.

But what actually works? Experts say there are a number of ways to provide relief. Some involve medication, others a bit of mind trickery.

Why Are the bites this itchy?

Female mosquitoes need blood to lay eggs. When they land on your skin in search of yours, they inject saliva containing proteins through “little serrated blades in their proboscis” — their needle-like mouths — “that bore into your skin,” said Dr. Allison Gardner, an assistant professor at the University of Maine who studies infectious disease management from ticks and mosquitoes. These proteins not only numb the skin but also dilate blood vessels to make feeding more productive.

In response, your body releases histamine as an immune response to the saliva. This histamine is what causes the itching and swelling, a signal for your brain to investigate.

Can’t I just scratch it?

You can. It’s almost impossible not to. “When we scratch, we distract our brains from the itch with another sensation, a gentle pain,” says Lyda Cuervo Pardo, PhD, an immunologist and associate professor at the University of Florida. “Our brains release serotonin, and we feel better.”

It’s the same reason a nail prick, a scorching spoon or the shock of a cooling spray can provide relief. “Itch, pain, tingling and temperature all travel on the same neural highway, so to speak,” said Dr. Heather Goff, an assistant professor of dermatology at UT Southwestern in Dallas. “When you flood that highway with other traffic, you bypass the itch.”

Dr. Cuervo Pardo said you can get stuck in an “itch-scratch cycle.” The gentle pain from scratching drowns out the itch and tells your brain to release serotonin, a natural painkiller. But serotonin can also amplify itch signals, making you scratch more. When your skin is damaged by excessive scratching, your body responds with more histamine, leaving you in a miserable loop, said Dr. Cosby Stone, an allergist and assistant professor at Vanderbilt University.

Which option is better?

Try an ice pack, a cooling spray or even a menthol ointment like Vicks VapoRub for a long-lasting tingling effect. A cooling agent with hydrocortisone will provide the best relief from itching in the compact and long term. When it comes to which cooling product to employ, “anything that feels good” will work, Dr. Stone said. “You’re tricking your brain into not noticing the itch, and the cooling agents also constrict blood vessels, which helps with swelling.”

Dr. Stone says a chilly towel can also provide gentle friction, and a plaster can support the ingredients penetrate the skin and protect the nails from damage, which is especially helpful for children.

Antihistamines, such as Zyrtec, Claritin or Allegra, are more effective than topical creams because they moderate the body’s overall immune response. You can even take an oral antihistamine in preparation for a camping trip or every day of summer if you want. “Having histamine blockers in your body means less of a reaction, period,” Dr. Stone said.

What about other tricks?

If you prefer heat to chilly, Dr. Goff said a heat compress or sultry towel can support with itching in the same way as a cooling product. She doesn’t recommend a scorching spoon, though, which can cause a minor burn.

She’s more skeptical of suction tools. “The amount of saliva that a mosquito injects and the hole that it makes is microscopic. I can’t imagine there’s a physical hole that you could suck something out of,” she said. That said, the sucking sensation acts as a mildly uncomfortable distraction in the same way that a fingernail does — at least for me and my 6-year-old, who’ve tried it on our own bites.

A better employ of time and money may be to avoid mosquito bites. Employ insect repellent and consider wearing long sleeves and pants when outdoors. Dr. Gardner, who treats her bites with aloe vera and hydrocortisone, wears a slim net over her hat to cover her face when she wanders or enters mosquito habitat.

“It may not be a good way to express yourself,” she said, “but it definitely helps.”