The first thing you should do once you notice a bed bug bite is wash the area thoroughly with soap and water. Combat itchy symptoms whenever necessary by covering the bite with natural solutions like lemon juice and aloe vera gel or professional remedies like 1% hydrocortisone cream and calamine lotion. If your skin starts to swell, take oral antihistamines, and use pain relievers like Tylenol to manage any discomfort. Visit your doctor if your bite hasn't cleared after 2 weeks. For tips from our Medical reviewer on identifying bed bug bites, read on!
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If you suspect that you're being bitten by bedbugs, immediately inspect your home for the insects. Thoroughly examine crevices in walls, mattresses and furniture. You may need to perform your inspection at night when bedbugs are active.
Look for these signs:
- Dark specks. Typically found along mattress seams, these specks are bedbug excrement.
- Skin castings. Bedbugs molt five times before becoming adults. These empty skins are pale yellow.
- Rusty or reddish stains. You may find small smears of blood on your bed sheets where bedbugs were crushed.
Treatment
Bedbug bites don't usually need treatment, as they usually disappear on their own within a week or two. You might ease symptoms by using:
- A skin cream containing hydrocortisone (Cortaid)
- An oral antihistamine, such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
Treating your home
It can be difficult to get rid of a bedbug infestation because they hide well and can live months without eating. You may need to hire a professional exterminator, who will likely use a combination of pesticides and nonchemical treatments.
You may also treat your home for bedbugs by:
- Vacuuming. A thorough vacuuming of crevices can remove bedbugs from an area but likely won't capture all of them. Empty the vacuum after each use.
- Laundering. Washing items in water that's at least 120 F (48.9 C) can kill bedbugs. As will putting them in a dryer on a high setting for 20 minutes.
- Placing items in an enclosed vehicle. If you live in a very hot place, bag up the infested items and place them in a car parked in the sun with the windows rolled up for a day. The target temperature is at least 120 F (48.9 C).
In some cases, you may have to throw out heavily infested items such as mattresses or couches. Make it obvious the item is unusable so no one else picks it up and gets bed bugs.
By Mayo Clinic Staff
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Symptoms & causes
April 09, 2022
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Show references
- Kermott CA, et al., eds. Blisters. In: Mayo Clinic Book of Home Remedies. 2nd ed. Time; 2017.
- Studdiford JS, et al. Bedbug infestation. American Family Physician. 2012; 86:653.
- Dinulos JGH. Infestations and bites. In: Habif's Clinical Dermatology. 7th ed. Elsevier; 2021. //www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed Dec. 22, 2021.
- How to find bed bugs. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. //www.epa.gov/bedbugs/how-find-bed-bugs. Accessed Dec. 22, 2021.
- Top 10 tips to prevent or control bed bugs. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. //www.epa.gov/bedbugs/top-ten-tips-prevent-or-control-bed-bugs. Accessed Dec. 22, 2021.
- Bed bugs FAQs. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. //www.cdc.gov/parasites/bedbugs/faqs.html. Accessed Dec. 22, 2021.
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As you might gather from their name, bed bugs are small, brown, oval bugs that prefer to live in your mattress or near where you sleep. These insects are nocturnal and feed on blood, coming out when you’re asleep at night to bite you.
Bed bug bites are itchy and uncomfortable, and bed bugs themselves may be able to spread disease. If you notice you have bed bugs, getting rid of them should be your top priority.
Serious bed bug infestations almost always require professional intervention. Bed bugs are excellent at hiding, and missing just a few bugs or eggs can lead to your bed bug problem coming back. However, for smaller infestations, there are some treatments you can try before calling in the professionals.
Bed Bug Remedies and Treatments
While you can treat bed bug bites after they occur, the most important thing you can do is prevent bites entirely. That involves getting rid of the bugs themselves. Bed bug treatments mostly revolve around killing the bugs and their eggs. Bed bugs are excellent at hiding and avoiding removal.
Wrap Your Mattress and Box Spring
Since bed bugs prefer to live near food sources, they are most often found in the cracks and crevices of your mattress and box spring. In mild bed bug infestations, most or all of the bed bugs will be living there. Using a mattress and box spring encasement can contain these bugs entirely and prevent them from breeding or getting into the rest of your home.
Wash Your Bedding Weekly
Bed bugs are vulnerable to water, soap, and extreme heat and cold. Wash your bedding at least weekly and dry it on high heat to reduce bed bug populations. This will not only get rid of adult bed bugs; it will also destroy any eggs or bed bug nymphs that aren’t visible to the naked eye.
The more frequently you wash and change your bedding, the more effective this will be at cutting bed bug populations.
Steam Your Furniture
Heat is just as helpful for removing bed bugs from your furniture as it is for your bedding. Since you can’t throw your mattress, couch, or carpet in a washing machine, a steamer can be an effective alternative.
Focus on steaming the cracks, corners, and joints of your furniture, since these are places where bed bugs are most likely to hide. Make sure that the steamer can reach temperatures of at least 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Hair dryers will not be effective since the intense air stream may just blow the bed bugs away before the heat affects them. Use Your Freezer If you have small items that you believe are infested with bed bugs and cannot wash, your freezer can also help. Bed bugs are just as vulnerable to freezing temperatures as they are to high heat. Leave these small items in your freezer for a minimum of four days to ensure that the bed bugs are entirely gone. Install Bedbug Traps Monitoring your bed bug situation is just as important as removing bed bugs from your home. Bed bug traps can help reduce the number of bed bugs in your home as well as helping you tell if you still have bed bugs at all. If your traps have bed bugs in them, then you’re not done removing them from your home. Bed bug traps can also help cut down on the number of bed bug bites you receive while you’re fighting the infestation. Vacuum Frequently Bed bugs live in places that are hard to see or clean. Vacuuming is an important way to get bed bugs out of these difficult places, such as cracks in a bed frame or underneath the bed. Make sure that your vacuum has a disposable bag if you choose to vacuum, so you can easily remove the bed bugs from your home instead of infesting the appliance. Bed bugs are connected to a number of uncomfortable symptoms, from itchy rashes to significant amounts of stress and anxiety. If you have an unidentified rash or experience symptoms other than itching and redness, contact your physician immediately. In rare cases, bed bug bites can lead to allergic reactions that include hives and blisters. Your physician will help treat these symptoms and may be able to direct you towards local bed bug resources.When to See a Doctor
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