paresthesia

Thân thiện

A patient describes a feeling of paresthesia in their hand.

Definition

Noun: A sensation of tingling, tickling, itching, or burning on the skin, typically occurring without an external stimulus and often associated with nerve damage or dysfunction.

Examples

• The patient reported paresthesia in her fingertips, describing it as a persistent "pins and needles" feeling.
• Temporary paresthesia can occur when you sit in one position for too long and a nerve is compressed.
• A common symptom of carpal tunnel syndrome is paresthesia in the thumb and first two fingers.

Advanced Usage

• Medical Context: The term is primarily used in clinical and neurological contexts to describe a specific symptom. It is often qualified by its location (e.g., facial paresthesia) or described as transient or chronic.
  • The neurologist documented chronic paresthesia in the lower limbs.
• Distinction from Dysesthesia: While both are abnormal sensations, paresthesia typically refers to spontaneous, painless sensations like tingling. Dysesthesia often implies a more unpleasant, painful, or distorted sensation, such as feeling a light touch as burning.

Variants and Related Words

• Paresthetic (adjective): Relating to or characterized by paresthesia.
  • The patient experienced paresthetic symptoms.
• Paraesthesia: An alternative spelling, more common in British English.

Synonyms

• Tingling
• Pins and needles
• Numbness (though numbness implies loss of sensation, it is often used by patients to describe similar feelings)
• Formication (specifically the sensation of insects crawling on the skin)

Antonyms

• Normal sensation
• Anesthesia (complete loss of sensation)

Học thuật

Noun

1. abnormal skin sensations (as tingling or tickling or itching or burning) usually associated with peripheral nerve damage

Từ đồng nghĩa

• paraesthesia