How to Treat Bedbugs on the Skin

Although bedbug bites can barely be felt, the allergic reactions caused by chemicals in the parasite's saliva can cause allergic reactions on the surface of your skin. Bedbugs can live in your clothes, bedsheets, mattress, pillows and more; they inflict their bites mostly at night. The reaction on the skin is not harmful, but constant scratching of the itchy bites can cause scarring and other skin irritations.

Things You'll Need

• Warm water
• Soap
• Topical steroids cream
• Hot or cold applicant (ice or warm towel)
• Antihistamine tablet (Benadryl or Tylenol)

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Instructions

• 1

  Clean the bedbug bite with warm water and soap. Since the bedbug bite is small and not an open would, sterilizing solutions are not needed to prevent infection.

• 2

  Apply a coat of topical steroids to control the itching. Hydrocortisone can be found in your local pharmacy; it helps to combat the allergic reaction from the chemicals found in the bedbug's salivary glands.

• 3

  Use a hot or cold applicant, such as ice or a warm towel, to help reduce the need to scratch the bite. Scratching can cause skin irritations, infection and scarring, and increases the chance of the saliva spreading across your skin.

• 4

  Reapply the ointment two or three times each day until the allergic reaction subsides.