A Puzzling Case
I am writing about a 67-year-old female patient of mine who 8 months ago purchased a bathing suit from a thrift store and, assuming it was washed, wore it. Ever since then, she has had a crawling sensation and pinching or biting on various places on her body: in the pubic area, hair, eyelashes – essentially all over, especially at night in bed. She has been to four dermatologists, one gynecologist, UCLA, to no avail. Because there is nothing visible like lice, and there are no lesions, bites, or raised or irritated areas as with scabies, she was dismissed by the aforementioned as delusional. I know from past experience with patients that mites often are microscopic and leave no lesions. She has tried all of the typical prescriptions, ranging from pyrethrums to malathion, lindane, and ivermectin. She has had her house tented and dusted with pyrethrum, her clothing and bedding professionally laundered. She is very depressed and feels hopeless about getting rid of them.









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