Waking up with mysteries scratches on your skin, is it demon scracthes or skin conditions?
They appear spontaneously, in groups of long, parallel lines. Most probably you are allergic to something and/or have sensitive skin. They are pretty superficial, and generally, do not draw blood. They are always the same depth and they appear to be cat scratches.
In contrast, in a real scratch, you can see different depths, and do not come in parallel lines of 2 to 4. I’ve had real cat scratches, and they do vary in depth and are painful!
Here are some images from the web that appear exactly as the ones that I get also:
Sometimes, they are not perfectly parallel, but almost:
Can be on the face, upper or lower back, legs or abdomen: All of them come with comments saying they do NOT own pets, they did not do them themselves, and that they did not feel them. I’ve seen them appear on my upper back and front.Do not confuse them with dermatographia, which looks different, and can be provoked by the person.Here’s a web page that talks about it: Mysterious Scratches On Body On Waking Up: How To Deal With It?The explanation says: The pathophysiology involves triple response on firm stroking of skin. The response consists of swelling and redness due to capillary dilatation, followed by exudation (seepage) of fluid and surrounding flare up due to arteriolar dilatation.
They are totally benign, they usually go away as the skin heals in 2 to 3 days.
And please, be assured, there’s nothing paranormal about it. A lot of people seem to have them, and as disconcerting as they appear, it’s just something about the skin. As they appear without a direct cause, people jump to conclusions without a shred of evidence of witches, ghosts, evil eyes, demons, apparitions, spells, magic, “dark arts”, possessions, etc.! Occam’s razor applies: a skin problem is way, WAY more probable than any of these, so don’t stress yourself with those explanations.
There are many possible causes of the scratches. One explanation for the scratches is that the person has accidentally scratched herself (or himself) during sleep. This might be a feasible explanation for arm, leg and front torso scratches, but it doesn’t explain those discovered along the upper middle back.
Some other explanations include medical, while others are supernatural. The two most popular medical explanations are scabies and dermatographia.
Scabies
Scabies is a “highly contagious skin disease” that causes relentless itching. The Sarcoptes Scabiei itch mite is responsible for this skin disease. The symptoms include “a skin rash composed of small red bumps and blister and sometimes tiny red burrows on the skin that affects specific areas of the body.” It is most commonly transmitted by sexual contact, although it can be contracted by “simple skin-to-skin contact.” Over the counter medicines are ineffective and it requires a prescription drug either oral or topical to cure the disease (2).
Dematographia
According to the Mayo Clinic, dematographia is “a condition also known as skin writing.” Those suffering from this condition can scratch their skin very lightly and “the scratches redden into a raised wheal similar to hives. These marks usually disappear within 30 minutes.”
Unfortunately, the cause of dematographia is unknown, although for some people, “it can be trigged” by “infections, emotional upset or medications such as penicillin.” The Mayo Clinic states that the majority of people suffering from dematographia don’t seek medical treatment; however, if the symptoms are severe, allergy medication is often prescribed, such as Benadryl (3).
Additional Potential Causes
Prednisone Reaction
Prednisone has also been offered as a possible cause. Prednisone is given to patients for various allergic conditions, skin conditions and inflammation. While effective, it also thins the skin. With the skin layer being thinned, friction from clothing and other things can leave trails of eruptive skin that resemble scratches (4).
Insect Bites
Aside from lice and mites, other possible culprits include fleas, bed bugs and flies. These can also create itchiness that can lead to scratches and even infections (5).
Several forums have suggestions that the person use the over-the-counter permethrin, that is often prescribed for scabies. According to the National Institute of Health, this comes in a cream or lotion and usually only requires one treatment (6).
Demonic Attack
Many of the reports of unexplained scratches come with suspicions of demonic attacks. Many of these instances involve a burning sensation followed by the discovery of scratches, often a set of three fairly straight lines on the skin where the burning sensation began (1).
Some of those suffering from this type of scratches claim that the marks are typically in sets of threes that appear on their backs, arms, legs and even faces. Some people claim to also have bite marks. Others also find various unexplainable bruising on their bodies.
One person attested to finding similar scratch marks on surfaces in the home. One person stated that these incidences happen when the victim is under some type of stress, such as life pivotal decisions or temptations the person is struggling with (7).
According to Manchester Paranormal Investigations (MPI), demon attacks are rare and what many people interpret as demonic is often an angry spirit. In discussing the ways demons contact people, MPI states, “They [demons] often make contact by pushing, hitting, and more commonly scratching. Scratches, welts, and even bite marks can be seen as a result”
Mysterious Scratches Seen Worldwide
The number of people experiencing unexplained scratches is worldwide according to the various forum and other Internet comments.
While there are possible explanations for the majority of these, many believe they are experiencing paranormal or supernatural phenomena.