Insect bites

[LambShank]

For the 4th time this year I've had yet another bite become infected, although this is the worst.
Called in at my local walk-in centre and they put a dressing on it with some sort of antibacterial gauze, (the orange colour square) and told me to take antihistamine tablets.

This was Thursday night - it now looks like this ...



The swelling has gone down that was below the bite and it's not as hot, but should I pop the blister or leave it with a dressing on it?

I had a bad one (although it didn't bliste) a few years ago and ended up in hospital for 48 hrs having IV antibiotics, so don't want that again!

TIA.

[HRL]

Christ. Can't help with any medical advice I'm afraid but that looks bloody sore.

Have you invested in any bug repellent yet? Not sure where you live but those must be some evil fecking bugs!

[JeremyH5]

I get that nearly every time I cut the grass in our back garden, still don't know what creature does it.
My solution is immediately take anti histamine tablet and keep it up daily until gone and put antihistamine cream on three time a day. Good luck.

[mikees]

Wuss. Get some nail scissors at it and some anthisan on it.

I have a similar reaction to some bites , mozzies I think and do this. Also react badly to wasp stings.

[LambShank]

I was doing a rugby training session on Wednesday evening - our pitch is by a river, and tends to be used by Canada geese as their own private toilet so I'm not sure what sort of insect it would've been...probably had a belly full of goose poo and it needed a drink...

I started with some antisan (?) cream but then it got redder and hotter, so didn't think the cream worked.

As for being a wuss... I regularly dig around my fingers with old stanley knife blades to extract splinters

So, should I pop it and release whatever's lurking underneath ?

[dudleybloke]

Pop it before the eggs hatch!

[RC1807]

OP : I had a simlar reaction to mozzie bites a couple of years ago when in holiday in the US. Big arse blisters the day after I was bitten. Never seen anything like it before.
I went to the local Walgreen's pharmacy and tried to buy scalpel blades, and couldn't as they're "too dangerous"!
(You know, you can buy a gun easier!)

In the end I bought some antiseptic liquid and cream, sterilised a needle, burst the large blisters, slapped on the cream and some big MoFo plasters, and redressed them 3x/day. It looked like I had septic weeping carbunkles on the flight home, but they healed after a week or so.

[daddy cool]

Wow - thats a bad one. I too get bad reactions to insect bites - often almost as bad as yours. Usually mosquitoes and midges around the forest where i go mountain biking (which is one of the reasons i go hell for leather and rarely stop). Its a real PITA - really puts me off going to anywhere like Scotland & Wales.
Last year got two legs worth of bites and was going out of my mind - doc prescribed some strong Hydrocortisone cream (stronger than whats available OTC in a pharmacy, which did relieve it somewhat).
Otherwise its a case of preventative action - superstrong DEET - though that is pretty nasty stuff itself.

[BoRED S2upid]

Ouch that must have been some nasty critter. Just don't read about Lyme disease.

[LambShank]

Well, it popped by itself at work.
There was a little gap at the bottom of the dressing and all the yellow gunk ran down my leg.
Feels a lot better now

[wong]

Prevention is better than cure. Long sleeves/trousers are better than any insect repellant. Can you wear those lycra arm/leg warmer things for rugby? DEET sprayed on clothing is fine.

Once bitten, people have varying reactions. Blistering is just at the worse end. If the blister leaked watery straw coloured, non smelly fluid, its unlikely to be infected. However, once the blister has burst, the chances of secondary infection are increased - there is now a breach in the skin/natural defence. If you have any topical antibiotic (Fucidin, Bactroban) on it in addition to the antihistamine and cover it - plaster.