Sensitive skin to touch

Facts about Skin Sensitivity to Touch

Certain individuals may experience having skin that is sensitive and tender, even to the softest touch. Moreover, upon touching the skin, one may feel burning, pain, or tingling and prickling sensations, regardless of the softness of the touch.

If this is the case, the name of the condition is allodynia. Basically, this name stands for a condition where typically harmless stimuli trigger pain.

Allodynia can manifest in more ways than one. Firstly, it may be triggered by touching or pressuring the skin. Secondly, brushing and rubbing may trigger a different kind of allodynia, a dynamic or mechanical one.

Allodynia (pain due to a stimulus that does not usually provoke pain) and hyperalgesia (increased pain from a stimulus that usually provokes pain) are prominent symptoms in patients with neuropathic pain.

Both are seen in various peripheral neuropathies and central pain disorders, and affect 15-50% of patients with neuropathic pain.
Allodynia and hyperalgesia are classified according to the sensory modality (touch, pressure, pinprick, cold, and heat) that is used to elicit the sensation.
Peripheral sensitisation and maladaptive central changes contribute to the generation and maintenance of these reactions, with separate mechanisms in different subtypes of allodynia and hyperalgesia.
Pain intensity and relief are important measures in clinical pain studies, but might be insufficient to capture the complexity of the pain experience.

✓ Fact confirmed: Allodynia and hyperalgesia in neuropathic pain: clinical manifestations and mechanisms Troels S. Jensen, Nanna B. Finnerup; 2014 Sep

These cases of extreme skin sensitivity may stem from many different reasons. Some of the most common are mentioned below.

Causes of Skin Sensitive to Touch

Nerve damage, affecting the peripheral nervous system, can sometimes lead to the occurrence of extremely sensitive skin. This condition is called neuropathy. Upon gently touching the skin, in this case, a person might feel tingling and prickling. In many cases, when diabetes is left untreated, it triggers neuropathy as well.

Alternatively, people may respond painfully to pressure applied on their skin if they suffer from fibromyalgia. Also, viruses may be behind this phenomenon, as is the case with postherpetic neuralgia, triggered by shingles. Under these health conditions, the skin may experience rashes which make the sensitivity even worse. Later, once the virus subsides, the symptoms disappear, only to show themselves again, once the host's immune system weakens.

Finally, chronic fatigue syndrome, vitamin B deficiency, and migraines can all be behind this skin and nerve problem. Tactile defensiveness is also an option. Here, there is a neurological defect in the middle brain, making us feel pain even when our skin is lightly touched.

Treatment for Skin Sensitive to Touch

Before this problem may be treated, the cause needs to be properly diagnosed. Common drugs which are prescribed in order to treat this problem are tramadol, lidocaine, ketamine, mexiletine, morphine, alfentanil, and several others. Sometimes, even anti-inflammatory medications and topical pain relievers may work.

All in all, any kind of abnormal skin sensitivity can be a bad sign. Thus, as soon as you notice that your skin is extremely gentle and tender to the touch, let alone painful once touched, seek medical assistance as soon as possible and get the problem treated since there are quite a few serious health conditions that might be behind this. React timely, seek professional treatment, and deal with allodynia by treating its direct causes.