What causes dry skin to itch

Itchy skin is considered to be a common problem among people and there are a lot of causes that lead to it. For instance, a person can experience itchy skin due to an insect bite, some sort of a rash or due to some more serious condition like cancer for instance. The medical term for itchy skin is pruritus. A person who suffers from pruritus experiences an irritating sensation that causes him to scratch at one point. Itchiness is most likely to occur in places where the skin is rough, red or has bumps on it. However, people should know that there are cases where a person has perfectly good and healthy looking skin but suffers from itching sensation. Even though the problem of itchy skin may appear harmless people need to know that in some cases the cause of itchiness may not be a harmless one and it may be very dangerous. For instance, a simple rash may be the cause in some cases while in others a serious condition such as psoriasis may cause it as well. People should also be aware that itchiness may be a symptom of some serious health condition, like kidney failure for instance. Itchy skin symptoms

There are some cases when there are no symptoms but these situations are rare. In most cases a person will experience redness, bumps, blisters and dry or cracked skin. The symptoms are also likely to get worse over time and that is why people need to avoid scratching.

The causes

Most causes are seen in case of mild itchiness. However, people should know that there are certain causes of severe itchiness.

Allergic reactions are known to cause severe itchiness. Reactions occur when a person gets in contact with the allergens. If allergens are the cause, a person will suffer from itchy skin for several hours and even days.

Dermatitis is another common cause of severe itchiness. Most people know that dermatitis is a non-infectious skin inflammation. The main characteristic of dermatitis is red itchy rash, which usually results in itchy skin. A person can get affected by dermatitis if he or she touches, inhales or ingests certain substances.

Apart from these two causes of severe itchy skin, another common cause is dry skin.