The big itch | The big rise in skin ailments

As skin ailments rise across the country, new diagnostic tools and treatments offer faster, more effective relief(Illustration by Nilanjan Das/ AI)ISSUE DATE: Nov 9, 2026 | Oct 30, 2026 19:52 IST A tiny tingling that starts in the skin. One that refuses to go. Till you have scratched it. That is the itch for you, a basic, universal urge as familiar as breathing perhaps. And humans are itching more than ever before—the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data show an 83 per cent rise worldwide between 1990 and 2021, from 44.1 million to 80.7 million prevalent cases. In a survey of 50,552 people across 20 countries, a 2024 study published in the British Journal of Dermatology found 39.8 per cent had scratched an itch in the past week. Among the 3,000 Indians surveyed, 42.6 per cent said they had done so.