Itching Around The Anus

Very commonly, people get an urge to scratch around their anus. This typically happen after washing the area or at night times.

This is medically called Pruritis Ani, that’s itching around the anus.

Don’t ignore this symptom. There are many conditions that can cause itching over there. It’s important to investigate the cause of itch your particular case and solve the problem.

Common Causes

Sweat Around the Bottom Hole

If you wear tight bottoms, or may be a woolen pant, or if you’re a sports person who sweats a lot, it’s possible that sweat gets accumulated down there. Especially, if the area is not ventilated due to tight clothing, itching starts there.

This happens because sweat is an irritant to the skin. It needs to be washed away periodically. If it stays, it will give you an itch.

As you scratch, the area becomes red and inflamed, prone to further irritation.

Fecal or Any Other Discharge From The Anus

If your bottom hole leaks or you get some kind of discharge from there, this fluid may irritate the skin surrounding the anal opening, causing it to itch.

As you scratch, the area may even get infected. This happens because the discharge is usually fecal contaminated and full of bugs. Scratching may give those bugs a chance to breach the skin surface.

Wetness

If the area remains wet or moist after a bath or washing after defecation, again you may tend to itch.

Simply keep the area dry to avoid itch due to wetness.

Consuming Excess of Irritant Food Substances

Taking excess of spices in food, like peppers, may give you a burning sensation there. You may also feel like itching.

Other foods that may irritate down there include excess of caffeine, alcohol, tomatoes or citrus fruits.

Some medicines, like colchicine for gout, pepperment oil for gastric troubles may itch there, as an side effect.

Dermatitis

When some stuff touching the skin out there irritates it, you may get an itch. This is sort of an allergic reaction elicited by the body, telling us to remove the irritant.

This happens when you wear some synthetic cloth there, which keeps rubbing against the skin while you walk. Or else, using some soap, gel, perfume or cream over the area.

It is also common to be allergic to some particular brand to toilet paper being used.

Such type of itch can easily be circumvented by first identifying the allergen and then avoiding its use.

Thread Worm Infection

This is a common cause of itch around the anus in younger children, especially who go to school and day cares. These worms get transmitted from one kid to another by simple interactions, like hand shakes.

The carrier may be having them beneath his nails.

Once they go inside the gut, they reproduce, laying eggs around the anus. These numerous tiny eggs are, of coruse, an allergen to the body and give intense itch. The kid cannot resist scratching there, an attempt made to wipe away those eggs from there. The itch is typically more intense at night.

If there are more than one person having pruritis ani, the possibility of having worm infection may be considered.

Symptoms

• Intense itch, especially at night.
• More than one family member affected
• Weight loss, in spite of good diet
• Stomach pain

Cutting the child’s nails from time to time and teaching them how to wash their hands after defecation and before meals limits the spread of this infection.

Eczema

Eczema is a medical condition where a localized area of the skin gets inflamed. Whey it get inflamed, is not properly known.

There are trigger factors, like stress, change of season, dryness over the skin surface etc. However, the role of our own immune system in triggering the inflammatory reaction is also there.

Symptoms

• Dryness
• Redness
• Itchiness

You get patches of red, dry, itchy skin at affected places. It may be any skin crease as behind the knee, neck, elbow or around the anus.

Eczema around the anus is very troublesome. The already inflamed skin has to tolerate other irritants, like fecal matter, which irritates it more. Also, this skin is more to infections due to fecal contamination.

So, care is required at the earliest. Medicines to reduce the inflammatory reaction are available. You may start using them topically.

Keeping the skin well moisturized, applying emollients over it help a great deal.

Psoriasis

This is an autoimmune condition. Requires an expert for diagnosis.

Here, your immune system releases chemicals that act upon the skin surface, affecting localized areas only.

The skin turns extremely dry, red and itchy.

The creases around the buttocks may get affected by this condition.

It is very painful. There is pain and sometimes even bleeding  during defecation. The dry skin itches a lot. Skin may peel off in the form of heavy scales.