According to a University of Florida website, you can kill the chiggers with a hot bath and lots of scrubbing with soap. In fact, it is a good idea to do this when you get back from an outdoor adventure to kill them before they bite you. Stop the itch before it happens!Also, you can suffocate them by using nail polish on every bite. It will form a nice seal and kill them. To alleviate the pain you may be feeling right now, try a local anesthetic from a drug store. Also, you might try rubbing meat tenderizer into the bites. Apparently this has been known to help relieve that awful urge to scratch (which can cause infections). Good luck!
Chiggers are not bugs that burrow into your skin. They do bite and what causes the itching is the enzyme that they inject into the skin. Your best defense to chiggers is prevent them by tucking your pants into your boots and wearing long sleeve shirts. Bug repellent will also work for a couple of hours. After you have been exposed to chiggers take a hot soapy bath to remove any that may be remaining and wash the clothes that you were wearing because they can stay in your clothes. There are a couple things you can do to help with the itch but nothing will stop it completely. You can apply anti-itch medications, take oatmeal baths, these things will help somewhat. The only thing that will completely stop the itch is time. The bites have to have time for the body to heal them.
My husband used a poison ivy/ sumac wash and it helped take away a lot of the itch. "chigarid" is a good product if you can find it, usually at walgreens/cvs stores. It doesnt smell the most pleasant, but who cares it the little bugs die?!?!? Maybe a warm oatmeal bath would soothe also. The dr told me not to scratch (duh), because it will cause the chiggers to burrow deeper into the skin. Hope it helps!!! Also--- if you have them in your yard, like we did, sprinkle ortho max all around the yard , it kills ticks and all sorts of others, including chiggers!
