Scratching the Itch of Seasonal Dry Skin

 

Scratching the Itch of Seasonal Dry Skin
March 25, 2026

  by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

If you suffer from severe skin itch during the winter months in the northern latitudes, this statement below may be the only explanation you have ever heard.

“Winter (Dryness): Known as "winter itch" (pruritus hiemalis), this is usually caused by low humidity and indoor heating, which strip moisture from the skin. It often affects the legs and is worsened by wool or flannel clothing.”

For decades I suffered from severe and persistent itching during the winter in northern New Jersey. It got worse as I aged. It mostly affects broad areas of my back and legs, especially my lower cafes. The intensity can keep me awake nights or wake me up from a deep sleep.  Scratching often brought only seconds of relief. As I scratched one area, the surrounding areas would start itching in response. At times the itch would be so intense my scratching would leave marks and even bleeding. At other times it almost felt like my skin was crawling. Fits of itching could last for 20 minutes or more.   

The usual bland descriptions of pruritus hiemalis don’t begin to capture the severity of the ailment for many people. One in five adults will experience itchy skin lasting more than six weeks in their lifetime. Many doctors dismiss itchy skin as just a nuisance. Yet, in the worse cases, intense itches can be disabling and even drive people to suicide, according to one source I read.

As I have come to believe, dry skin is mostly a collateral symptom of the problem, not a direct cause of the itch. Lathering my skin with moisturizers and raising the humidity of the air in my home during the dry winter months never provided much relief. Likewise, showering less, using less soap on my legs and back, showering in soft water vs. hard water, toweling off more gently, switching to mild laundry detergents, taking fish oil supplements, and every other piece of advice to treat dry skin only produced peripheral benefits.

Bees Wax – The first substantial relief I got was from a bees wax based product advertised to help prevent dry skin on our feet. Rubbing it on my calf’s provided temporary relief. I assumed this was because it is thicker than lotions. I rubbed it on after my shower and the itching subsided long enough to fall asleep. Before morning, however, itching fits might still wake me up.  

A few seasons later, I began applying the bees wax nightly as a prevention before my legs and back started the itching cycle. I did this nightly throughout the whole winter season. This brough a decent measure of relief, but I still had fits of itching that were less intense. Scratching sometimes brought temporary relief. That was new, but if dry skin was not the cause, what explained this seasonal recurrence.

S. aureus bacteria – New research finally discovered what may cause our skin to itch. Scientists discovered that there are itch-specific neurons in our skin, some being the same neurons that sense pain. Then they discovered that our skin could produce and release pruritogens, which are chemical substances that induce itching (pruritus) by activating these specific sensory nerves in the skin and mucous membranes. Next, researchers discovered that a common skin bacterium called Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) was most responsible for triggering itch-specific neurons in our skin.  I read that:

“When the skin barrier is damaged or the microbiome becomes unbalanced, S. aureus bacteria can grow over-abundantly and trigger itching flare-ups. When S. aureus invades the skin, it releases 10 different enzymes, or proteases. One of them, called V8, latches on to a protein on nerve cells called proteinase-activated receptor 1, or PAR1,” - [and this initiates an itch response.]

 This was the first evidence showing a clear, direct mechanism between a bacterium and the need to scratch. The search is now on to discover if there are other related pathways to the itch response, and to develop medicines to disrupt the connection.

This bacterial connection to my itching skin may help explain why a bees wax skin product is more helpful than moisturizing lotions alone.  Beeswax has natural antimicrobial properties that can inhibit the growth of various bacteria, fungi, and molds. It is effective against pathogens that have strong or weak cell walls. Studies have shown that beeswax is effective against Staphylococcus aureus as well as Candida albicans (yeast), Bacillus subtilis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Beeswax also forms a protective barrier over the skin that reduces contamination and supports healing. But this still doesn’t explain why itching can be a seasonal problem.

Sunlight: Then I read an article in Scientific American that could explain seasonal illnesses and ways to help manage the symptoms. I summarized the article in a prior blog post from:  Scientific American from June 2025, an article called "The Sunshine Cure”:

“UV light calms inflammation in the skin, the nervous system, the pancreas and the gut. Its potential is not fully realized.” —Prue Hart, Kids Research Institute Australia

Our immune systems exist as a tight equilibrium between immune activation and immunosuppression. This is called immune homeostasis. When the body detects danger due to viruses, bacteria, or damaged cells, immune cells activate to contain or eliminate the threat. Then, to prevent an overreaction, the system uses regulatory T cells and anti-inflammatory cytokines to suppress excessive responses after the pathogen threat has cleared. Unchecked, active immune responses can attack the body’s healthy cells leading to inflammation and autoimmune diseases such as lupus, or type 1 diabetes. On the other hand, if immune suppression is too strong it can allow infections to persist or progress, and if it is too weak it can allow cancerous cells to grow unchecked. But can the immunosuppression effects of UV or sunlight be utilized to rebalance an immune system that is too active, causing harmful inflammation? The answer is yes! Here are a few quotes from the article:

“Excessive UV radiation from sunlight damages DNA in skin cells, which can trigger mutations that can lead to cancer. At the same time, it also suppressed the immune system’s surveillance of the skin, preventing that system from killing any budding cancers.”

This also means that short exposures to UV or sunlight can be therapeutic in suppressing an overactive immune response in autoimmune illnesses. Furthermore, the itch of psoriasis, specifically, is directly  associated with the itch-specific neurons triggered by the S. aureus bacteria. More from the article: 

“… a number of medical studies now shows that UV light, the highest-energy part of the solar spectrum that reaches Earth’s surface, has a surprising ability to calm an immune system that has bolted out of control. The new studies offer tantalizing hints that UV therapy might also work for other autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and colitis. All are more common in people who get very little sun exposure, as are maladies such as Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease that appear to have some immune system and inflammatory connections.”

Scientific evidence also finds that the prevalence of many autoimmune diseases in the population corresponds closely with the latitude where we live. The higher the northern latitude, the less sunshine in winter, and the more frequent the incidents of autoimmune diseases in the population. Multiple Sclerosis has the strongest correlation, but the list is long. Autoimmune ailments related to latitude includes psoriasis. Here is another quote from the article:

“For example, it finally explained something doctors had noticed for centuries: sunlight soothed psoriasis, a skin condition marked by painful, itchy scales. With the discovery that psoriasis was an autoimmune disease in which the immune system flays the body’s own skin cells, it at last made sense. UV light—whether from the sun or a lamp—improved psoriasis by tamping down the inflammatory response… Remarkably, the effect wasn’t just local. Shining light on one patch of inflamed skin could reduce symptoms on other patches. Even more curious, people with psoriasis often suffer from other autoimmune conditions, and sometimes the phototherapy improved their other symptoms as well.”

And finally, this:

“… when you do shine UV light on the skin and take a peek to see what it makes, you discover a microscopic pharmacopeia. In addition to vitamin D, the skin produces melatonin, serotonin, endorphins, endocannabinoids, cortisol, oxytocin, leptin, nitric oxide, cis-urocanic acid, itaconate, lumisterol, tachysterol, and a dozen other vitamin D–like compounds that don’t even have names yet.”

Here comes the sun: This information was enough for me to act. Starting around the first of October 2025, I began a personal experimental trial for myself. On days when there was sunshine, I stood in front of a sunny window, removed my shirt, and exposed by skin for just five minutes front and back. This was a short period to avoid skin damage. This sun bath happened on average three or four times a week for ten minutes total. I did this all winter long.

I also continued rubbing a bee’s wax product on my legs and back after a shower. The result of this combination was that I delayed the onset of the first fit of seasonal itching by almost two months. For the rest of winter, from January on, itching fits were infrequent and mild. I wasn’t cured. I didn’t get a tan or sunburn, but I did get the most relief I have experienced in over a decade.

 I have reason to suspect that pruritus hiemalis is an autoimmune condition (maybe related to psoriasis?) that causes inflammation, dry skin, and fits of severe itching. I am not a scientist or medical doctor, but I hope one day that medical researchers investigate my suspicions. In the meantime, brief sunbaths and a bee’s wax-based product rubbed on affected areas bring me significant relief.