What is the reaction after mosquito bite?

Why do I get HUGE(some the size of a golf ball) red itchy bumps where a mosquito has bitten me, the day AFTER the bite occurs? I have been told I have a mosquito bite allergy...but a reaction 24 hours later? The itching is terrible and it doesn't let up.

• Answer:

  Do you scratch the bite the day before? It's probably the same deal you get with Stinging Nettles. If you leave the stings alone they go away quickly, but if you scratch them you get red bumps (whereas before there might just be a small red dot where you got stung perhaps) come up that itch worse than they did before you scratched them. Though the reaction does seem to depend on people, some can quite happily get stung and never bat an eyelid, whereas other people are in itching hell. Scratching is always a bad idea when something itches as it just damages the skin and sets off the nerves that are being irritated even more. The large bumps are probably a scaled up response to the scratching combined with an allergy. I was told that scratching the bites spreads the toxin from the sting about so it affects a wider area. I'm not sure on the validity of this so don't consider that a scientific opinion at all (the scratching reaction is however). Oh I should also mention if they are truly bad you might want to go visit your doctor and just chat to them about what you can do. They might be able to help, like recommend an anti-itching cream or some such to help you.