itty bitty things biting

this year is the worst ever here on the edge of the smokies for what one of my friends has been calling chiggers. not sure what they are but they are so tiny I can't see them but they sure do reak havoc on bare skin. last year when we had a very mild winter I suspected we would have more bugs and sure enough here they are. is anyone else having excessive bug bites this year. any potions anyone have concocted to repel the beasts or treat the sores.

I should add that these are not red bug chiggers that burrow into your shin and can only be treated by covering the bore hole with nail polish till they are suffocated. these things are much smaller, probably need a microscope or almost an electron microscope to see them

I am experiencing a higher volume of bug bites.  Dramatically higher.  I have at least five permanent scars from chiggers.  Fire ants, .mosquito bites.   Also, as you've said, invisible bugs.  I keep getting bitten and I expect to see a fire ant, but there's nothing there.  It's happened too many times to be coincidence.

bruce Fine wrote:. not sure what they are but they are so tiny I can't see them but they sure do reak havoc on bare skin.

They might be no-see-ums, and I'm not making that up. They're a real thing sometimes called biting midges. They're a type of biting fly that leave extremely itchy lesions on the skin and there are some 5000 kinds of them according to wikipedia. More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratopogonidae

I tend to be crawling around on the ground for one reason or another and get a ton of bites. The best thing I ever did was "go pro" on my itch relief by getting a prescription for triamcinolone. It's a clear topical in a tube. Like hydrocortisone but 10x as strong. It works amazing well. Where I'd be applying hydrocortisone several times a day, triamcinolone is once a day. Strong stuff, use sparingly!

Takes a doctor to sign off, but this is an easy one you can do over the phone if that's an option for you.  I just told the doctor that over-the-counter stuff wasn't working, I hate allergy pills, and wanted to try this specifically.  

Prevention has never worked for anything but mosquito for me. The creepy crawlies always get through.

I think they're probably flying midges. I'm experiencing more than usual this year.