Overview

Habitual scratching

If you have a skin condition such as eczema, you probably scratch your skin. Scratching is a natural response to the feeling of an itch, but it can also become a habit.

Habitual scratching means that you’re scratching your skin very regularly, often without realising you’re doing it. It can be triggered for reasons other than an itch, such as stress. Your skin will become more damaged and take longer to heal if you scratch through habit.

To help you reduce your scratching habit, we’ll first ask you to monitor your scratching for 1 week. Then, we’ll ask you to try some habit reversal techniques, while you continue to monitor your scratching.

Scratch monitoring

Scratch monitoring is a way to record your usual scratching behaviour. This includes all situations and activities where you scratch, and how often scratching happens.

Scratch monitoring will help you become more aware of your habit. It will help you to discover where and when you scratch the most.

Scratching on your skin might include using your nails, rubbing with your hands, using clothes, the edge of objects, or someone else scratching you.

How to monitor your scratching

Try monitoring your scratching for 1 week using a hand-held tally counter. We will tell you where to buy one, or we might be able to provide one. Do not avoid scratching during this time. To begin your scratch monitoring, download the scratch record, then follow these simple steps.

Click on the hand-held tally counter every time you scratch, touch, rub, or pick your skin.
1 scratching episode equals 1 click. If you use both hands to scratch, click 2 times.
During each day, make notes of what triggered your scratching using the boxes provided. Triggers can be external situations, like watching TV, or internal, like stress or boredom.
At the end of each day, enter the date and the total number of scratches for that day in your scratch record.
Set the counter back to 0 for the next day.

Remember to take care of your skin as normal. For more advice, speak to the doctor, nurse or psychologist caring for you in the dermatology department.

Help with scratch monitoring

Some people are shocked to find out how much they scratch. This is normal. Some people also find it difficult to remember to log their scratches.

It might help you to tell friends, family, or colleagues that you’re monitoring your scratching. They do not need to tell you to stop scratching, instead they can remind you to click your tally counter, if they see you scratch.

After 1 week of scratch monitoring

After you have completed your scratch monitoring for 1 week, discuss your scratch monitoring record with your doctor, nurse or psychologist. Try to talk about the triggers that made you scratch the most.

You will then be ready to learn how to reduce your scratching using a technique called habit reversal.

Habit reversal to reduce scratching

The aim of habit reversal is to reduce scratching as much as possible and give damaged skin time to heal.

Every time you want to scratch, clench your fists for 30 seconds instead.
After 30 seconds, if you still need to scratch, you can pinch or press a nail into the itchy area.
Then, stay busy by doing an everyday activity.

While practising habit reversal, it’s important to continue monitoring your scratching using the scratch record. It is likely that you'll start to notice you're scratching less.

Managing triggers

When completing the scratch record, you’ll notice the triggers that made you scratch the most.

At the end of your scratch record, you can record:

the trigger situations you can remove
the trigger situations you can reduce time in
the activities that you can do instead to keep you occupied
any internal triggers, like stress, that your doctor, nurse or psychologist can support you to manage better