Firm Says Spray Casts Out Unscratchable Itch

There are products to soothe head itch, foot itch and in-between itch. And now a Yorba Linda company says it has a cure for cast itch.

No, it doesn’t require scratching with a coat hanger or packing talcum powder into plaster casts. Instead, Castblast is an aerosol spray that Leni Faas, president of Castblast Inc., says will instantly relieve itchy cast-encased limbs.

According to Faas, one of three partners in the firm, cast itch is caused by bacteria that grow when moisture condenses under tightly wrapped plaster. Castblast is about to market cans of spray that Fass says will evaporate the moisture and leave behind a layer of powder.

“We’re going against common sense,” admits Faas, an ex-motorcycle racer who has had his share of broken bones. But cast itch “is the most miserable thing in the world. . . . Imagine having an itch and not being able to scratch.”

Castblast is scheduled to be on drugstore shelves by late November. The company hopes to sell up to 500,000 of the five-ounce aerosol cans for $9 to $11 apiece in the first year.