How Long do Bed Bug Bites Last, Take to Appear, Go Away …

A bite from a bed bug can be quite irritating and no one would enjoy its effect for even a micro-second. Find how long it takes to appear and the duration it lasts before it goes away or heals.

As soon as you identify that the bites on your skin are bed bug bites, the next question will be how long the bites will last. Having bug bites on open areas of your body such as the face and arms can be both irritating and embarrassing.

National Health Service doctors state that bed bug bites last for a few days. This however varies from one person to another. As explained by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), symptoms that come as a result of bug bites may last for about 14 days or 2 weeks.

If you have a very sensitive skin, you may have the bed bug bites last longer on your skin. Bed bug bites on a sensitive skin heal after approximately ten days.

To determine whether your skin is hypersensitive, you should look out for certain symptoms after the bite. They include; extreme itchiness, red bumps, clustered rashes, and bite marks.

If your skin is very sensitive to insect bites, you will most likely get an allergic reaction. In such a case, your period of healing will be way longer.

Your skin takes a while to overcome the reaction. The more sensitive your skin is, the longer you will take to heal and the more likely you develop complications.

According to the Center for Disease Control and prevention, when bed bug bites become infected, they last longer on the skin.

You are likely to get infections if you scratch the bed bug bites with dirty fingernails or if you expose the bites to a dirty environment.

CDC further confirms that too much scratching causes bacteria to get into the red bump leading to an infection.

If you have a weak immune system, your body finds it hard to fight something as minor as a bed bug bite. People with a strong immune system were found to heal from the bites sooner than those with a weaker system.

If you have been bitten by bed bugs severally in the past, you may not even realize it when they bite you. Some people become resistant to bed bug bites.

It is however not the case if the bed bugs bite you for the first time. When bitten for the first time, the bed bug bites are likely to last for long.

If you try available remedies for bed bug bites as soon as you notice the first symptoms, you shorten the length of time the bites take to heal.

Aloe vera and green tea bags are some of the available home remedies. If you choose to let the bites go away on their own, they may last a little longer.

How long it takes for bed bug bites to appear varies from one person to another.

For some people, the bites may appear the morning following the night they are bitten.

For others, however, it may take up to two weeks before the bed bug bites appear.

If the bites by the bed bugs were severe, you are likely to as well have the bites show up sooner than expected.

Moreover, people who have been bitten by bed bugs to the level of not reacting to them may not show any signs at all. If your skin is very sensitive, the bites may show up very soon on your skin.

Since bed bug bites can be very irritating, you may need to find ways of getting rid of them as soon as possible. Below are tips that will help you to eliminate bed bug bites faster;

Apply cold compress. On eMedicalHealth, Dr. Patrick Davis explains that cold compress is very helpful when applied on an insect bite. Bug bites are not an exception. It helps reduce not only the swelling but it also gives you a relief from any itching and pain.

You can also use tea bags to treat the bug bites. The Journal of Pharmacognosy and phytochemistry advises that green and black tea bags are the best since they have tannins which act as astringents. This is the property responsible for reducing itching and inflammation which comes with bug bites.

Research further shows that chamomile has anti-inflammatory effects which make it similar to hydrocortisone creams.

Honey is yet another remedy that has been found to reduce how long the bed bugs last. Honey is a natural antibiotic and is very helpful in case your bed bug bites become infected.

Since you may not realize when your bites are becoming infected, it is best if you apply honey even before you can note any infection.

Apply Aloe vera on the skin with bed bug bites as soon as you see them. Aloe vera nourishes the skin and as such promotes healing.

You are advised to avoid scratching your skin. Even if the bites cause a lot of itchiness on the skin, do not respond. Scratching the bites exposes the skin to bacterial infection.

As discussed earlier, when the bed bug bite marks are infected, it takes a very long time before the bites heal. You can try home remedies that relief itchiness.

If your bed bug bites are infected, you are advised to see the doctor for treatment. Remember, infected bed bugs take longer to heal than those not infected. This explains why you need to seek necessary medical attention so as to avoid such possible delays in healing.

Keep the area with the bed bug bites very neat. Ensuring no dirt comes into contact with it whatsoever. This is meant to reduce the chances of infections.

To ensure effectiveness of any of the above home remedies, apply them as soon as you realize the first signs that you were bitten by bed bugs.

Clean up your room and find an appropriate treatment for the bed bugs. If the bed bugs bite you yet another time, they worsen the current condition of the first bites.

Do not allow the bed bugs to bite you again, find a way to eliminate them. More and more bites mean you will take a longer time to heal.

Further Reading

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How Long do Bed Bug Bites Last, Take to Appear, Go Away ...