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Pruritus, Pain and Other Abnormal Skin Sensations

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Pruritus

Abstract

Pruritus (itch) can be defined as an unpleasant cutaneous sensation that leads to the need to scratch. Pain is defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage”. Hence, itch and pain are different sensations, with different clinical aspects, different origins and different pathways. However, they share common mechanisms and they can overlap and have interactions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Neurosciences of Brest and Department of Dermatology, University Hospital and University of Brest, 5 avenue Foch, Brest, 29200, France

    Laurent Misery MD, PhD

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  1. Laurent Misery MD, PhD
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Correspondence to Laurent Misery MD, PhD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, University of Brest, Brest, France

    Laurent Misery

  2. Center of Chronic Pruritus, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Sonja Ständer

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© 2016 Springer-Verlag London

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Misery, L. (2016). Pruritus, Pain and Other Abnormal Skin Sensations. In: Misery, L., Ständer, S. (eds) Pruritus. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33142-3_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33142-3_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-33140-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-33142-3

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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