Hey guys you're probably here because you want to know all about those itchy
mosquito bites how to treat them how to prevent them
and loads more well i'm going to answer all of those and loads of other
questions in this week's responding to your comments
where we look at fun questions we look at science-based questions but most
importantly we always look at the evidence lakshmi
please do a video on mosquito bites lakshmi
thank you for your comment this is from the how to get rid of insect bites where
you left this comment it might be a bit late for you this
video now but i really hope these tips help you
and anyone who's watching because mosquito bites are actually what
mosquitoes are actually one of the world's deadliest animals who are
responsible for millions of bites and deaths every single year so
let's get going okay so let's begin with the science because this is probably one
of the most important bits so mosquitoes why do they love biting
people well for female mosquitoes you are a walking talking blood meal
okay the female mosquito it has a needle-like mouth
and it can penetrate the skin and go directly into your blood capillaries so
when the mosquito actually lands on you it injects its saliva into you
okay and in its saliva it has an anticoagulant which actually
thins your blood so it's easier to draw the blood and that saliva
is what causes that itch that we all know so well it irritates the skin
and that itch well it's horrible we've all been there and some mosquitoes
actually inject you with a local anesthetic so anesthetics we use to numb
yeah so when you go to the dentist they inject your anesthetic and you can't
feel anything very similar type of thing they inject
you with that you can't feel anything okay and then they fly away happy as
larry full of blood your blood and then a few
hours later you then get the itch and you feel it
all i know it's terrible and here's the worst bit these
mosquitoes can pick up diseases from other humans
other animals and transmit them directly to you
which makes them so deadly such as transmitting things like
zika virus malaria yellow fever but we'll touch up on all of them
a little later but now let's move on to the most important bit which i imagine
is the reason you're watching this video because you've been bit by mosquito and
it's driving you crazy itching it so let's look at those treatments okay
so some of the most common symptoms you might experience
after a mosquito bite firstly itchiness probably
the worst thing next you might get red raised skin it might be inflammation
there might be swelling of the area and sometimes there might actually be a
bit of liquid weeping from the actual site where you've been
bit so now let's move on to the treatment tips
so tip number one for instant relief one of the best
things that i always find to advise patients to do
is ice cubes so get some ice wrap in a tea towel or something don't put it
directly on the skin and hold it there for about 30 to 60
seconds or maybe even a few minutes it's completely fine
hold it there it's going to help reduce the swelling it's going to help numb the
area and give some quite instant relief now the reason i'm
saying it can be a bit difficult to do is finding ice cubes
might be a little tricky so another option would be to get some frozen
vegetables or something out the freezer wrap it in a tea towel do the exact same
thing and if you still can't do that if you don't have a
freezer or anything like that open the cold water tap
run the area under the cold water tap for a few minutes to again help that
area cool down but what you don't want to do is have a
hot shower or a hot bath that's going to make things a lot worse
tip number two antihistamines these can be very useful
at helping to reduce that itchiness so i always usually recommend
an antihistamine tablet i find that they work a lot better than
antihistamine creams which generally speaking i find quite useless
but anti-histamine tablets for skin allergies in particular i find
cetirizine to be very good for it obviously this means that you probably
have to go buy it if you have it great okay but if you don't you can't go and
buy it from pharmacy always speak to your pharmacist first
though before you take any medicines and always read the information leaflet
that comes with it to make sure that you are safe and suitable to take it
and that is the most important thing you should always remember
moving on to tip number three steroid creams again
these can be very helpful at helping to reduce that itchiness but remember
you only need to use a tiny amount so a useful steroid cream for example is
hydrocortisone cream you can buy this over the counter from
any pharmacy again but remember to use a pea-sized amount you only need to use a
tiny amount because they're very strong so when i say pea-sized amount well the
fingertip unit that's what we call it i did do a video on how to use a steroid
cream which i'll link up here actually because you might find it helpful
but when you use one fingertip unit it should cover two palms in area
so that's exactly how thinly you should be using it
please remember though do not use the steroid cream on your face
okay it's not licensed to be used on your face if you're buying it over the
counter you will need to speak to a healthcare
professional if you're going to want to use it on your face
and always again read the information leaflet speak to your pharmacist first
again always to make sure that you're safe and
suitable to use it once again that is the most important thing tip
number four painkillers these can be really helpful with
soreness and the swelling now common painkillers that you can use
include paracetamol or ibuprofen they're both very good you can use them
together or you can use them separately it makes no difference
but once again i feel like i'm saying this all the time now please read the
information leaflet it's safe and suitable to take it always
beats your pharmacist first just to make sure that you are safe to
actually take that medicine once again i'm going to say 100 times in this video
that is the most important thing because you need to be safe your health is the
most important thing now tip number five is all about trying
to prevent an infection now it's really important and i know
it's a lot easier than said that you stop
itching please refrain from it because underneath your nails
are dirty it's full of germs the skin is probably full of germs already
and when you're itching it you're opening up that skin our natural barrier
from germs those germs are going to get in and
eventually it could lead to an infection and that's the last thing you want no
one wants a skin infection it's terrible then you need to take antibiotics and
it's going to cause you all this grief just from a mosquito bite so please the
first thing you need to do is once you've been bit get some soap
some water wash the area and refrain from itching now we're all
human and i'm sure some of you will end up scratching those bites and if you do
it might form a clear sort of fluid layer on it
that's quite normal for this to happen it might even ooze as well that's just
your plasma that's oozing out but eventually that
will dry and form a scab now it's probably important to remember
if that does happen to you it's always good to keep that area clean
maybe with an antiseptic cream and also keep it covered because now
you've actually opened that skin so it's susceptible to getting infected
so if you've got a bandage if you've got plaster
place it on top of it so that's what you need to do but here's a bonus tip
because abraham the pharmacist has always got your back okay so here's
what you need to do after your scar has healed well not
healed but after it's starting to heal you need to start moisturizing the skin
that is going to help prevent it from leaving a scar because nobody
wants a scar also it might be worth using an spf cream as well
that's just going to help prevent pigmentation of the skin
another bonus tip for you there now there's also a few things that you
should be aware of of when to speak to your healthcare professional so for
example when to know that your skin is infected
or when to get help so all of these i'm going to leave in the
description below and i would highly recommend that you read it
but one of the most important things i need to discuss with you right now
is if after you've returned back from your holiday or trip or wherever
and within those 12 months you experience flu-like symptoms so these
include a fever aches and pains everywhere flu-like
symptoms basically you need to speak to your healthcare
professionals straight away because these can be signs
of yellow fever or malaria so it's super important that you're aware of it and
i'm going to leave loads more information in the description below too
so please do read up about it and remember as i mentioned earlier these
mosquitoes can carry various different diseases such as
japanese encoveritis dengue fever zika virus and loads more
so it's really important if you ever do have any kind of symptoms and you've
been traveling abroad recently or within that year you mention it to
your healthcare professional because this is really going to help them
okay so we now know all about how to treat a mosquito turbine we know the
science behind them and how they all work and the diseases that are spread
we know all about the red flags and what to do but now
when you look at prevention so you can prevent yourself from getting bit in the
first place because i'm pretty sure 90 of the people
watching this video will be watching it with an active bite but there might be
ten percent who are being proactive like you know what i'm gonna go
traveling and i'm gonna learn how to prevent getting bit in the first
place and if you're not part of that ten percent if you're part of the nine
percent that's being bit well you need to learn this for next
time so watch it all learn the tips let's move on to them
okay so tip number one if you're an adult use 50
d-e-e-t spray deet spray is what we call it
and it contains what we call diethyl tolumide nobody calls it that by the way
just call it d everyone calls it that everyone knows it
by that name and i've had to do this part
a few times because i can't pronounce it so it's a really good repellent
at repelling those mosquitoes it's very safe to use
um i wouldn't recommend using it under clothes there's no point in doing that
so just use it for wherever the skin is exposed
now just like sunscreen deet also needs reapplying
so always read the information leaflet that comes with it for how often you
should do that also if you're someone who is allergic
or sensitive to deet there are other repellent sprays
available as well which i will list in the description below now here's
another bonus tip because as you know abraham the pharmacist loves to give you
those bonus tips please remember that if you're going to
be applying deet it's going to reduce the sun protection that you get from
your sunscreen so please make sure that you're applying
a minimum of spf 30 or spf 50 preferably to help prevent you from getting
sunburned now please also remember first apply your sunscreen and then
apply the d apply the d above the sunscreen don't do
it the opposite way around now you can get deep from any community
pharmacy but always speak to your pharmacist first
so they can go through the different products with you speak about the
different repellents that are available because there might be something there
that works better for you and better for where you're going to
that's why it's always important to speak to your healthcare professional or
pharmacist so they can give you advice and as well make sure that you're safe
and suitable to use that product moving on to tip number two remember
those pesky mosquitoes can bite you at any time in the day
so with your clothing remember the three l's the first l
wear long sleeve clothing wear light clothing so
light colored and also loose clothing all of these are gonna help
prevent you from getting bit in the first place because remember that if a
mosquito can't land on you or get close to your skin
but you can't get bit tip number three mosquitoes
they love strong smells like perfumes and if you have loads of products that
are scented they love it and they're attracted to it
and then they're going to come towards you and bite you
so to avoid it to avoid them from coming towards you you need to stop wearing the
perfumes and the bath soaps and all the scented stuff
try and get unscented things just to prevent them from being attracted to you
in the first place moving on to tip number four use a net
over your bed and also close those windows when you're
sleeping and if you can turn on the air conditioning or the
ceiling fan that's going to get some air circulating
probably on a low setting and that air circulating is going to
stop and prevent those mosquitoes from being able to fly and go on you as
well now with regards to the netting firstly make sure that it's not directly
on your skin because the mosquito can still bite you
through the holes in the netting i know it's terrible right but you've
got to make sure it's not touching your skin
secondly give it a quick little look before you go to bed
just to make sure there's no holes that have appeared in the netting
and lastly when you set up the netting tuck it underneath your bed
that way it's going to give you the best protection tip number five
location location location look you need to stay away
from stagnant water such as puddles ponds
marshes things like that because that is where they nest that's where the
mosquitoes nest and then you're going to be close to
them and then that walking breathing blood meal that you are is gonna be
close to them and you're gonna get a bit more so you
need to stay away from that sort of area so remember location location location
okay guys that's it i really hope you found this information helpful
lakshmi i hope you found this information helpful i hope anyone
watching this video has found it helpful you are now a
mosquito bike pro you know what to do you know how to
prevent them from biting you in the first place
you know what to do if you're being bit you know all about the red flags
you know all about where they breathe and everything you're a mosquito bite
pro so spread the word tell your friends
tell your family tell your loved ones tell your colleagues tell someone random
on the street tell someone on holiday who's been bit by loads of mosquitoes
you now know what to do and i really hope you find this information helpful
but if you guys have any of your own tips
please leave a comment below too because i would love to read it too in case i
didn't mention this in the video i get bit by mosquitoes all the time i'm
one of these type of guys that always say oh i think they're attracted to me
more than everyone i imagine i'd release some kind of
pheromone or scent that they love but i've been able to implement a lot of
these tactics and techniques that i've told you in today's video
and that's really massively helped so please let us know how you get on
and leave any of your own tips below as well because i'd love to read it so it
looks like we've run out of time again in this week's episode of responding to
your comments if i didn't get back to your comment i'm
really sorry we get so many comments these days so it's
really hard to fit them all into one episode
the best advice i can give all of you is just leave another comment
keep commenting keep commenting and eventually i will get back to you in a
future episode that's the end of this week's video
always remember you're awesome and i will see you
next week hey guys thanks for watching this week's video
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