Saturday, April 25th 2026
Turning an often underestimated symptom into a clinical priority to be treated with increasingly advanced and personalized tools. This is the step proposed by the dermatologists of SIDeMaST, gathered in Rome for the 99th national congress.
A clinical priority, first of all because behind an “itch” may hide a disease or even a psychological disturbance that needs to be discovered.
After all, literature also shows its symbolic power: Dante Alighieri, in “Inferno” (Hell), describes the condemned with scabies, forced to itch incessantly, turning itching into a metaphor for suffering.
There is not the same itching for everyone: with the same diagnosis, different patients can present different biological mechanisms, influenced by factors such as age, gender, co-morbidities, the therapies used and genetic characteristics, as well as different physical and psychological consequences.
“In dermatology we are experiencing a real paradigm shift: we no longer treat only the symptom, but the patient in his biological specificity”, emphasizes Paolo Amerio, professor of dermatology and president of the 99th SIDeMaST congress.
“Personalized medicine allows us to identify the mechanisms underlying itching and intervene with increasingly targeted and effective therapies”.
A profound impact on the quality of life. Today we know that chronic itching is not only a physical symptom.
“Itching does not affect only the skin, but the entire emotional and relational sphere of the person”, explains Roberto Maglie from the University of Florence.
“It can favor anxiety and depression in about 20% of patients, impair sleep in 60% of cases and create a strong psychosocial disturbance, up to the phenomena of stigmatization and isolation, as it is associated in the collective imagination with the idea of attachment”, she emphasizes.
This creates a vicious circle that reinforces psychological stress, worsens the quality of life and makes clinical treatment more difficult.
The causes of itching are many and varied. Itching is the main symptom of most chronic inflammatory skin diseases, such as Psoriasis and Atopic Dermatitis, and also occurs in parasitic diseases.
However, it is also often associated with systemic diseases: hematological diseases such as lymphomas and polycythemia vera, liver and kidney failure.
Sometimes it can also be a medical emergency, as in the case of cholestatic pruritus during pregnancy, which can affect the course of pregnancy and fetal survival.
But not always the cause is organic. Itching can reflect a psychological disturbance (psychogenic itching) or, despite in-depth analysis, remain without an identifiable cause, being called “chronic itching of unknown origin”.
Scientific research has made significant advances in understanding the mechanisms. In addition to histamine, which until recently was considered the main cause of itching, many other inflammatory mediators, called “pruritogens”, have been identified in many chronic inflammatory diseases such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and other systemic diseases.
These inflammatory mediators interact with immune cells, skin cells and neural networks, which include both the peripheral and central nervous systems, producing the characteristic itch reaction”, explains the professor. Amerio.
We use cookies to improve the experience and to display ads (Google AdSense).
By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the use of cookies according to
Privacy Policy
and
Cookies Policy.
You can reject non-necessary cookies by clicking “Reject”.
Source: prizrenpost
