Itchy Pants? Levis Might Be The Answer

Posting Date: 09/27/1999

Do you ever put on a pair of pants that suddenly make you feel itchy and creepy? If certain pants cause you discomfort, stinging or irritation, particularly around the thighs, you may have what is called the pants paresthesia syndrome.

This is a syndrome that mainly occurs in white adult men, when pants or trousers made of fabrics other than cotton are worn.

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Although it sounds weird, I?ve gotten a lot of mail and letters about this disconcerting ailment, which some people describe as a sensation of ants crawling along their legs. Recently, there was an article in the journal Cutis that reviewed the literature on the condition.

Some experts have believed formaldehyde or various resins or textile finishes might be responsible for the skin irritations but laboratory tests have been negative for these factors.

An Oregon physician reporting on the syndrome says that wearing pre-washed, cotton-only Levis blue jeans - not so-called designer jeans - worked for one of his patients.

Another patient in Copenhagen, Denmark got redness of the legs and feet from wearing several different pairs of pants. Eventually, his symptoms disappeared when he wore old and frequently washed blue jeans.

A Belgium physician says his son got thigh irritations from wearing trousers of 85 percent cotton and 15 percent polyester. The syndrome continued although the pants were never ironed and were frequently washed using water softeners.

There is even one 40-year-old woman whose slacks caused her tingling sensations on her inner thighs. She went to a dermatologist who tested various fabrics but couldn?t determine what caused her discomfort. Eventually she switched to wearing dresses and the irritations disappeared.

Topical preparations may give some relief. An over-the-counter anti-itch spray containing pramoxine gives a local anesthetic effect that helps some people.

Otherwise, the evidence seems to suggest sufferers of the syndrome should wear old-fashioned Levi?s the rest of their lives.

Source: Cutis, July 1999