Bed Bug Bite Symptoms

At first glance, bed bug bites may not look any different from any other type of insect bite. That’s why a lot of people at first believe the welts and bumps they have are from mosquitoes. However, there are a few telltale signs that will help you distinguish a bed bug bite from any other kind.

Mainly, bed bug bites:

They are sometimes red with a darker dot in the center

They sometimes itch terribly

Sometimes present in a line or cluster of several bites together

They are usually found on exposed areas of the body like the face, neck, hand, and feet

They will begin as a red bump that’s bigger than a mosquito bite and quite swollen. Bed bug bites don’t go away as easily as mosquito bites do so if you have any suspicious bites, watch them over the course of a few days. The itching from bed bug bites gets progressively worse, not better – unlike mosquito bites.

One of the reasons bed bug bites appear in a line or cluster is because the bed bugs move across the skin, inserting the stylets from their beaks into the skin, looking for tiny blood vessels. They’ll puncture the skin repeatedly to find the right spot. The bites contain anesthetics and anticoagulants. Usually bed bugs only feed on the exposed parts of the skin that is not covered by clothing, like the face, neck hands and feet.

Even though these are textbook examples of how bed bug bites will look, you should only use them as a guide. Since every person reacts differently, your bites may look different than those of another family member. Some people may have blisters while others may have the mosquito bite-like bumps while others have no symptoms at all. On the other hand, it could take up to two weeks for any symptoms at all to appear.

This is why bed bug inspections are so important, even if you don’t have any suspicious bites. By the time you notice the bites, the infestation could have spread to other parts of your home, making it much more difficult to eradicate the bugs.