First of all, why do mosquitoes even bite you? They aren’t doing it for entertainment and they aren’t doing it in self-defense. They aren’t doing it to get food or drink, because they get nourishment from nectar, not blood. Mosquitoes need protein and iron to develop their eggs, and both of these can be found in blood. This means that only female mosquitoes that are developing eggs feed on blood.

Why do mosquito bites itch?

Even though they are commonly called “mosquito bites,” the mosquito doesn’t really bite you at all. The mosquito starts by piercing your epidermis — the upper layer of your skin — with her proboscis, a straw-like mouth part that allows her to easily drink fluids. Once she breaks through your epidermis, she uses here proboscis to search for a pumping blood vessel in the next layer of your skin.

Once she finds a good blood vessel, she releases some of her saliva, which contains anti-coagulants. These keep the blood flowing until the mosquito is done.

At this point, your immune system realizes something’s wrong, and your plasma cells send antibodies to the area where the mosquito is. These antibodies cause some of your cells to release histamine. These reach the area of the saliva and cause the blood vessels to swell. It’s actually your immune system that causes that little red bump, which is actually called a wheal.

When the histamine causes your blood vessels to expand, the swelling irritates the nearby nerves, causing an itching sensation.

How can you stop the itching?

First of all, you should try to prevent mosquito bites from even happening. Take a look at this article:

If you do get bitten though, the simplest and best way to stop the itching is to use an antihistamine product. A good example of one of these is Benadryl. These are almost always over-the-counter products, and some are even topical, meaning you can apply it directly to the itchy wheal. Also, you definitely shouldn’t itch the mosquito bite, as that just makes it much worse.