An antipruritic agent or substance is by nature or design something that helps to relieve the discomfort associated with itching. There are home remedies that are antipruritic, and classes of drugs available by prescription or over the counter that may be sold specifically for anti-itch properties, or might feature this as a byproduct of other mechanisms of a drug. People may take or use these medicines for short periods of time or could be prescribed them for long-term use, depending on the conditions provoking skin itch.
Several types of home ingredients make for decent antipruritics, especially to treat the occasional or episodic itchy problem. For instance, baking soda can be made into a paste and placed on itchy spots caused by chicken pox, poison oak, or other identified uncomfortable skin rashes. Other people use things like oatmeal, cornstarch, and apple cider vinegar to calm itching. As with many forms of commercially made antipruritics, these treatments are all topical, placed directly on the itching parts to reduce irritation.
In the next level up are topical antipruritic over the counter products, and these might come in a variety of formulations. Things like creams, ointments, powders and even the occasional spray could assist. What makes these products different is the way they target itching.
Some believe the best way to calm irritation is to provoke a different kind of irritation, with a counter irritant. When people use products like camphor, they are trying to get antipruritic effects based on this. A topical with antihistamines dulls histamine response, which may cause lowered skin reaction and less inflammation of the skin. Anti-itch corticosteroid creams work in a similar way, causing the skin to inflame less. Another approach are medications like benzocaine, which causes numbness and makes people feel less itchy.
There are antipruritics that are also taken orally, and some of these are over the counter medications. Most popular are antihistamines, like diphenhydramine, that work on a more systemic level to reduce histamine response. Most pain relievers that are over the counter have antipruritic effects too, because they do reduce itching through reduced discomfort.
It’s possible that over the counter solutions are not enough, and there are numbers of prescribed medicines that may target skin inflammation, such as prednisone or a variety of prescription only antihistamines. Extreme discomfort or chronic itching might also be addressed with pain relievers. Some medicines have been suggested as antipruritics, even though this is not their primary use. Selected serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), usually used in the treatment of depression, might be used to calm ongoing itching.
