Elvin Ng had to get steroid jabs for sandfly bites after they became inflamed

Elvin Ng had to get steroid jabs for sandfly bites after they became inflamed The Singaporean actor was at his usual tanning spot at Tanjong Beach in Sentosa, like many times before, but this was his first time getting sandfly bites. Going to the beach is fun and all, but when the sandflies bite, they bite. On Jun 18, Singaporean actor Elvin Ng took to Instagram to share that he'd gone through another round of steroid injections for the sandfly bites and infection he'd gotten four months ago. "It's actually not that painful (luckily there's ice) but I was just bracing myself for each shot and squeezing any life out of the plushie (luckily I have it) for destress purposes," he quipped in the post. The 45-year-old explained that he was sharing his story because of the common hatred for sandfly bites, and to help others prevent or deal with them. "They started getting inflamed a month (delayed reaction) after I was at the beach suntanning, at about the same time I had to go for my eye operation, which was the first few days of Chinese New Year in end Feb," recalled Ng. "So has been a really tough start to the horse year with a bad eye and super itchy legs until now (and even after my eye has almost fully recovered)," he added with the hashtags "sandflybitesarereal" and "ihatesandflies". He did visit the GP twice, but the prescriptions of anti-histamines and steroid creams didn't seem to work much. Elvin Ng was, however, glad to have found another, more direct and effective solution: localised steroid injections on each spot to bring down inflammation and reduce scarring, as the steroid creams couldn't get through anymore due to the bite wounds forming scabs. "I'm probably highly allergic to sandfly bites (my first time getting them) and they became really inflamed and unbearable," he added. Ng shared that he was only at his usual suntanning spot at one of the Sentosa beaches, which he later revealed to 8days.sg as Tanjong Beach, like many times before. "But this time I was unfortunate. I learnt after that it is by the water between the wet and dry areas, which are most likely to have sandflies and they can't even be seen by the naked eye," he shared. The actor also learnt that we should always spray repellent whenever we go to the beach, even if it's to suntan or bask in the water. "Hopefully this helps, and you won't need to go through the same kind of crazy itchiness (scratching till they bleed) I've been tolerating for months, and you can do better to protect yourself from this 'common enemy'," gushed Ng. This story was originally published in 8Days. For more 8Days stories, visit https://www.8days.sg/