UNEX Bug bite

All-in

All-in

Contributing Member
I was baling hay the end of September and got probably a dozen chigger bites. None of them healed like normal. I pulled cystic-like white things out of all of them before they would heal. I didn't scratch or pick at them, but saw white things and I'd use a tweezers to pull them out. Possibly larvae?? Had one that was still not healing and squeezed it tonight. When I squeezed it I felt a pop and something hard/crystalline almost like a piece of glass came out of it. I got a magnifying glass and tried to get a closer look and I can't see anything revealing. I'm really curious and put it in a bag to see if I can find someone with a microscope for further examination. When I was looking at it with the magnifying glass, I swear it "jumped" several times. It's pretty tiny and maybe something just made it move. I'm not prone to wooo, but this is pretty strange. Over a month and a simple bug bite should not look like this and glass-like stuff should not be coming out. Anyone have any ideas or experienced anything similar? I put iodine on it that's why my skin looks yellow. I figured I'd ask the greatest minds on the net for thoughts. Since getting whatever it is out, it is half as hard and swollen as it was when I took the pic.
 

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Fairwillows

Fairwillows

Where I am supposed to be.
Whoa! So sorry that you are experiencing this. We used to put clear nail polish on chigger bites, to suffocate them, but I don't think that's a good idea in your case. I have heard of folks using ivermectin topically. Wow, that's all I got. Keep us updated!!!
 
medic38572

medic38572

TB Fanatic
In the past I have been bitten by chiggers, Fly's and other vermin that have done the same thing. I have had it explained to me in the past that when bitten by things that leave a bite like that the white blood cells attack it and encapsulate it meaning it surrounds it with a barrier to help protect the body. These things turn hard and the body ends up trying to eat them or actually cause them to dissipate. I have literally squeezed them out myself. Keep putting your alcohol and Iodine on it. They leave a small hole like that until they heal, and you may even scar from it.

But I must confess I have never had one jump at me. :D
 
West

West

Senior
Some kind of mite would be my guess. Any oak trees around? Those oak and dust mites are SOBs!

It's the time period for healing that I relate with oak mites. Took months before I was completely healed. IIRC about 6 + months.

But IDK.
 
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marsofold

Veteran Member
Chiggers leave nickel-size marks on me that last for months. Unlike most bugs, they actually leave a piece of themselves behind when they bite. The tube through which they feed breaks off after use and remains behind, since they only bite once in their life. That piece left behind irritates the skin intensely.
 
All-in

All-in

Contributing Member
medic38572 said:
In the past I have been bitten by chiggers, Fly's and other vermin that have done the same thing. I have had it explained to me in the past that when bitten by things that leave a bite like that the white blood cells attack it and encapsulate it meaning it surrounds it with a barrier to help protect the body. These things turn hard and the body ends up trying to eat them or actually cause them to dissipate. I have literally squeezed them out myself. Keep putting your alcohol and Iodine on it. They leave a small hole like that until they heal, and you may even scar from it.

But I must confess I have never had one jump at me. :D
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That was my thought as well. Body tried to encapsulate something foreign and the rubbery cystic-like things were the first stage. This was 2-3 weeks after the others were at that stage, so maybe had changed to a harder structure as my body was breaking them down. Healing and looks much better this morning.
I was walking around in tall grass, so I'm pretty sure they are chiggers. I've been outdoors all my life (Army, Eagle Scout, live on a ranch) and I'm pretty familiar with different bites and how to treat. I've used the nail polish trick before. When I was a kid my dad and I got into some chiggers and had them in all sorts of warm places. Asked mom for some clear nail polish and she didn't have any. All she had was different shades of red/pink. Gotta do what you gotta do ... dad and I had pink balls for several days! = )
I was just hopping Bill Gates hadn't dropped some kind of DARPA funded cyborg nano-chiggers in my area. LOL Never had bites act like this before.
 
S

summerthyme

Administrator
_______________
All-in said:
That was my thought as well. Body tried to encapsulate something foreign and the rubbery cystic-like things were the first stage. This was 2-3 weeks after the others were at that stage, so maybe had changed to a harder structure. Healing this morning and looks much better this morning.
I was walking around in tall grass, so I'm pretty sure they are chiggers. I've been outdoors all my life (Army, Eagle Scout, live on a ranch) and I'm pretty familiar with different bites and how to treat. I've used the nail polish trick before. When I was a kid my dad and I got into some chiggers and had them in all sorts of warm places. Asked mom for some clear nail polish and she didn't have any. All she had was different shades of red/pink. Gotta do what you gotta do ... dad and I had pink balls for several days! = )
I was just hopping Bill Gates hadn't dropped some kind of DARPA funded cyborg nano-chiggers in my area. LOL
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Definitely check in to the Sawyer extractor Millwright mentioned above! We don't have chiggers, thank God... there's gotta be SOME upside to a place that sees freezing temps 7 months out of the year! But last week, hubby discovered a yellow jacket nest in the haymow... by picking up a bale that had HALF the nest... and tearing it into pieces before realizing!

He was lucky... only half a dozen stings. I got the extractor out and started working on them... the worst one was just in the crease of his underarm... must have been on a nerve path.

I got them all (I thought!) worked, and he went back to work. A bit later he came back in for some antihistamines (he hadn't wanted to take any when I suggested them... men!), and he ended up needing to rest most of the afternoon because of nausea and headache.

I can only imagine how much worse he'd have felt if we'd left the venom in the stings!

Oh... and I missed one... all the stings we treated lost their redness almost immediately, but that evening, he had one red, swollen area with a clear sting mark I'd missed!

Summerthyme
 
ArisenCarcass

ArisenCarcass

Veteran Member
marsofold said:
Chiggers leave nickel-size marks on me that last for months. Unlike most bugs, they actually leave a piece of themselves behind when they bite. The tube through which they feed breaks off after use and remains behind, since they only bite once in their life. That piece left behind irritates the skin intensely.
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Nope.
Chiggers inject a cocktail of enzymes that digests and rearranges your own cells into a sort of straw that they can then use to drink blood from the lower subcutaneous skin layers.
The hole that is left when they bite is open to infectious pathogens and often gets a slight infection.
Chiggers can potentially bite several times in their life.

Chigger_bite.png
 
All-in

All-in

Contributing Member
summerthyme said:
Definitely check in to the Sawyer extractor Millwright mentioned above! We don't have chiggers, thank God... there's gotta be SOME upside to a place that sees freezing temps 7 months out of the year! But last week, hubby discovered a yellow jacket nest in the haymow... by picking up a bale that had HALF the nest... and tearing it into pieces before realizing!

He was lucky... only half a dozen stings. I got the extractor out and started working on them... the worst one was just in the crease of his underarm... must have been on a nerve path.

I got them all (I thought!) worked, and he went back to work. A bit later he came back in for some antihistamines (he hadn't wanted to take any when I suggested them... men!), and he ended up needing to rest most of the afternoon because of nausea and headache.

I can only imagine how much worse he'd have felt if we'd left the venom in the stings!

Oh... and I missed one... all the stings we treated lost their redness almost immediately, but that evening, he had one red, swollen area with a clear sting mark I'd missed!

Summerthyme
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Thanks! I'll definitely get a Sawyer Extractor!
 
M

Mercury3

Veteran Member
ArisenCarcass said:
Nope.
Chiggers inject a cocktail of enzymes that digests and rearranges your own cells into a sort of straw that they can then use to drink blood from the lower subcutaneous skin layers.
The hole that is left when they bite is open to infectious pathogens and often gets a slight infection.
Chiggers can potentially bite several times in their life.

View attachment 444206
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info.

Nasty little critters! I use to get them when I was a kid growing up in the western mountains of North Carolina. Lucky we don't have them in Colorado where I live now.
 
ArisenCarcass

ArisenCarcass

Veteran Member
Mercury3 said:
Thanks for the info.

Nasty little critters! I use to get them when I was a kid growing up in the western mountains of North Carolina. Lucky we don't have them in Colorado where I live now.
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No Problem.
When I was a kid, we were told that they burrowed into the skin and you had to close the hole to suffocate them.
 
psychgirl

psychgirl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
ArisenCarcass said:
Nope.
Chiggers inject a cocktail of enzymes that digests and rearranges your own cells into a sort of straw that they can then use to drink blood from the lower subcutaneous skin layers.
The hole that is left when they bite is open to infectious pathogens and often gets a slight infection.
Chiggers can potentially bite several times in their life.

View attachment 444206
Click to expand...
:hof:
 
West

West

Senior
Whomever has never been bitten by chiggers or mites, really should get out there and experience it. Build up your grit.

Come on out to Oklahoma, need some help to bust the brush and have a new extractor for you. And I'll share the venison with you.

:D
 
West

West

Senior
Alaska, Montana, etc...may have super cold and grizzlies, but in Oklahoma we have chiggers, mites and bugs from hell!

Anyone who lives shelterd lives and has never been eaten alive by bugs of all sorts would never make it in the bush and forests of Oklahoma!

And I know how a simple bug bite can get infected then cause a infection so bad it can easily kill you. It's taken me almost a decade to get use to it where my immune system is strong enough that even the red cedar dust doesn't give me a bad rash anymore. Even the grass seeds messed with me, on and on...

As a born and raised mountain boy, I thought I was tuff, ha! Now that my skin is like Oklahoma leather...better.

:D
 
wobble

wobble

Veteran Member
West said:
Alaska, Montana, etc...may have super cold and grizzlies, but in Oklahoma we have chiggers, mites and bugs from hell!

Anyone who lives shelterd lives and has never been eaten alive by bugs of all sorts would never make it in the bush and forests of Oklahoma!

And I know how a simple bug bite can get infected then cause a infection so bad it can easily kill you. It's taken me almost a decade to get use to it where my immune system is strong enough that even the red cedar dust doesn't give me a bad rash anymore. Even the grass seeds messed with me, on and on...

As a born and raised mountain boy, I thought I was tuff, ha! Now that my skin is like Oklahoma leather...better.

:D
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One of the things I don't miss about Oklahoma is chiggers. As a kid I got 'into it' many times before OFF became a thing.
Total body rashes that were pretty much like having shingles with a little less neurological super pings to the wonky pain center. An itch and rash from hell.
I dont miss those horrid thorns in the grass either.
 
psychgirl

psychgirl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Firebird said:
Sort of reminds me of a Bot fly bite
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Since I’ve already used my favorite moving hair on fire emoji…..

:eek:

One of the freakiest, vomit worthy procedures was at work when a client brought in a barn kitten with a massive bot fly on her face.

Yeahhh. That removal procedure will make your hair stand up.
Poor thing screamed and holding her down was wretched, but it’s gotta be done.
 
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