Chiggers do not burrow into the skin. They do not feed on blood. They do not lay their eggs under the skin.
No, what they do is far more insidious. They use their mouth parts to attach themselves to the skin and then inject a digestive enzyme which allows them to suck up the liquified skin cells and eat them.
Why do so many people think that they burrow under the skin? My best guess is that people believe this because there is another organism called a chigoe flea, which is often referred to as a jigger, which does partially burrow into human skin.
By the time you have noticed the itching caused by a chigger bite it is likely no longer there. If you've scratched the chigger bite, you've removed the chigger. There is no point in trying to suffocate the chigger with nail polish since it was never under the skin to begin with.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trombiculidae
Chigger on a dime.
SCHOOL OF WILDERNESS MEDICINE AND SURVIVAL.
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