Pruritus and prurigo

Abstract

Pruritus is defined as an unpleasant skin sensation associated with the desire to scratch. Chronic pruritus (from 6 weeks duration) is the most frequent skin symptom of various diseases. Patients with chronic pruritus have a reduced sense of well-being and an impaired social, family, and professional life. The diagnostic procedure for chronic pruritus aims at identifying the cause and trigger factors and requires a detailed search for an underlying dermatological, systemic, neurological, or psychiatric cause. The European and German S2k guideline on chronic pruritus both propose a therapy algorithm based on expert opinion and currently published studies. In this chapter the most important recommendations of the guideline, the current classification of pruritogenic diseases, and their most important representatives are presented.