bite away®: a natural insect bite treatment for families with sensitive skin
Both Tin Box Baby and myself have eczema prone, sensitive skin. So I try to opt for chemical-free creams and lotions when we can. But it can be difficult to replace everything in your travel first aid kit with convenient natural remedies.
For example, when you are on a walk or camping, carrying toxin-free treatments for insect bites, like milk, ice and baking soda, is not practical. And easy to dispense insect bite creams inevitably contain chemicals.
bite away® is a chemical-free, medical device that can treat the symptoms of itching, pain and swelling caused by insect bites and stings. This makes it ideal for families with sensitive skin.
This natural insect bite treatment is also portable. You could add it to a travel first aid kit or pop it in your bag when you are out and about.
How does the bite away® work?
bite away® is a pen-like device with a small ceramic disk at the top that you place on the bite. At the press of a button it reduces the symptoms of the bite by using a short, concentrated burst of heat (51°C) to relieve the pain and itchiness.
Here’s the science…
The bite away® decreases itching by targeting the body’s pain receptors and giving the cells around the bite a heat shock. This decreases your body’s release of histamine and other inflammatory reactions when you get an insect bite, so swelling is reduced. Essentially, the heat transfer triggers a pain and itch-relieving reaction in the small area of skin where it has been applied.
You can use bite away® on bites from mosquitoes, wasps, bees, hornets, horseflies and other biting insects that you might find in a camping field, by a lake or on a country walk.
A study has proven that the symptoms ease within two minutes of using this natural insect bite treatment.
How do you use this chemical-free bite remedy?
It’s really simple. You put the end of the bite away® on the bite, making sure you’ve removed the barb of the sting if there is one.
There are two turquoise buttons: one that treats the bite for three seconds; and another that treats the bite for six seconds . There’s a clock symbol on each to show you the difference in the treatment time.
I’d recommend starting with the three second treatment, especially with children, as 51°C is noticeably hot even for a short while.
An adult should apply the bite away® for young children. Keep it out of reach when it is not being used.
The treatment doesn’t start as soon as you push the button. This is because the ceramic disk needs a few seconds to heat up (like ceramic hair straighteners).
Once the treatment begins a green LED lights up above the buttons and there’s a ‘beep’. The light goes off and the beep sounds again at the end of the three or six second treatment.
It is important to leave at least two minutes between each use. Do not exceed five applications per hour on the same skin area.
Are there side affects from this natural insect bite treatment?
After testing bite away® on my own hand I could see a slight reddening of the skin. But this faded after a few minutes.
Red area after using the Bite Away
Luckily, we’ve avoided getting insect bites since being sent our bite away®. So we haven’t tested it in a real bite situation. I’ll update this post with the results when that happens.
In the meantime, we’ve added it to our travel first aid kit list.