h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Why is it that, when, oh, say, a tear of some sort that's been stitched, is close to being completely healed, it *itches*? OK, granted, this is in a nerve-rich area, but still...

I'd imagine that it is one of the side effects of damage to the nerve tissue. In a similar way, people who have arms or legs amputated often complain of pains or itches in the toes or fingers of the amputated limb.

I suspect that its the effect of nerves being on the borderline of the injury/healing. As a former chef I've been cut and burned repeatedly (also been stabbed in the stomach by a highly irrational and extremely impolite individual).

Burn ALWAYS hurt more than cuts. I've lopped off finger tips, and other than the inconvience of bleeding it's never hurt that much. The cuts have always hurt more as they heal

My knives are EXTREMELY sharp. This means that where nerves are concerned, I've either damaged them or I haven't. A destroyed nerve ending won't transmit pain. An untouched nerve ending won't either. Some are hit but not to the same extent as a burn. It's the nerves that are sitting on the line of scrimage that transmit something.

As the healing progresses it moves a line through the flesh that periodically crosses nerve ending, and activates them. So while it may not be painful near the end of healing the nerves are still affected.

And they don't know exactly what the irritation is. It's not painful, pleasurable, hot or cold. An itch is just the nerve ending being 'confused'. As if too say "I know I'm feeling something but I can't explain it"

Just my speculation.

I think it is all to do with the nerves being reconnected, the nerve signals being reconnected and also the creation of new tissue and the connecting of the nerves to it.

Where a scar forms, I'd always thought it was contraction of the tissues that caused the itch.

And on a similar topic, how long should dissolvable stitches take to dissolve? Should they still be there 10 weeks later?

Doubt it.

Does this thread keep reminding anyone else about Marvin Gaye?

And the song Sexual Healing? Yep, but I thought it was just the sleep deprivation.

I'd thought it was likely healing nerves in the perineum that caused the itching. Heck, I never even felt the second degree tear, but the itching had been driving me nuts the day I posted here!

I think there may be a physiological need for itching. It stimulates the scratch reflex, and scratching has a number of purposes eg bringing more blood flow to the area. Wiki suggests that scratching is important where itching is caused by skin parasites. It also points out that scratching can be pleasurable so I would wonder if it induces chemicals that are part of the healing process.

As an aside, midwives say that perineal tears heal better than preineal cuts. I would suspect that the latter is both more painful and creates more itching.

I've had both--I don't remember itching so much after PaperKid was born. Then again, it *was* 5.5 years ago... I do know, from comments made, that the tear almost followed the path of the previous cut, so I wonder if that has anything to do with anything.