

Incurable itch: Hacking the human brain - sublemonic
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/30/080630fa_fact_gawande?printable=true

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jrockway
_Only in the Emergency Department at Massachusetts General Hospital, after the
doctors started swarming, and one told her she needed surgery now, did M.
learn what had happened. She had scratched through her skull during the
night—and all the way into her brain._

Really? I am having a hard time imagining a fingernail winning against bone.
Could anyone provide more detail?

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sciolistse
this surprised me a bit as well.. it seems like:

[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T0K-45FP7C1-1&_user=964951&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000000593&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=964951&md5=c37c53fe89aad47f022dadc1c0aea3e6)

is likely the case, and it makes some sense if she's incessantly scratching
the same area over a year.. (I didn't buy the pdf, but the abstract explains
it)

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dejb
> this surprised me a bit as well

Surprised isn't the word. That freaked me out totally. I was I hadn't read
this article.

