Gear

Relieve the itching and swelling of insect bites

Relieve itching without the use of chemicals

by Kim Shellborn
A photo of Thermapik.
Thermapik relieves the itching and swelling of insect bites. — Photo courtesy Lee Valley Tools

Enjoying the great outdoors and camping often goes hand and hand with insect bites. If you are going where there are bugs, take along a Therapik to relieve the itching, swelling and pain. Therapik uses the focused application of heat to neutralize the venom.

The reason the heat treatment works is that the venom of most common stinging and biting insects is thermolabile, meaning that high temperatures render it harmless.

Effective on the venom of bees, hornets, wasps, mosquitoes, blackflies, ants, fleas, ticks and even stinging nettle (but not recommended on spider bites, snake bites or scorpion stings), it works best on fresh bites, but soothes even day-old ones.

It is six inches long and uses one nine-volt alkaline battery (not included).

Therapik is available at Lee Valley Tools

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