Damage to the brain and spinal cord can cause a variety of abnormal sensations in the skin. However, the sensations actually have nothing to do with the skin.
By Cathy Cassata Medically Reviewed by Jason Paul Chua, MD, PhD
Last Updated: June 17, 2021
MS can cause pain, itching, and a number of other symptoms affecting the skin.
Anupong Thongchan/Getty Images
Virtually all symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) are a result of the damage MS does to the brain and spinal cord. Damage to sensory pathways in the central nervous system can produce abnormal sensations elsewhere in the body, including the skin, says Barbara Giesser, MD, a multiple sclerosis specialist with Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, California, and professor emeritus of clinical neurology at the David Geffen UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles.
These abnormal sensations can include numbness, tingling, pain, and itching, as well as the feeling of insects crawling, water dripping, wetness, pressure, and vibration in particular areas of the body.
However, these sensations have nothing to do with the skin. Rather, they are due to damage to parts of the brain that receive signals from the nerves that supply sensation to the skin. “Your skin may feel like it’s burning, but you haven’t burned your skin. The nerves are sending the wrong message,” explains Dr. Giesser.
|
