Infected chicken pox lesion?

[Buda]

DS has chicken pox - spots appeared on Saturday. He is fine in himself now and the spots are almost clear. However, there is one spot on the sole of his foot that has a yellow head on it which I am assuming is a sign of infection. Do I need to take him to the doctor? He says it isn't sore. I have some antibiotic cream - can I just use that?

[Buda]

No-one?

[SlightlyMadScotland]

hmmmm....is it inflammed more than the others - i,e, red around it, larger than the others?

If not I might be inclinded to keep a close eye on it over the next day or so. I would probably have said that most of DTDs had a degree of yellowness as they dried up - it may just be that this one is further along than the others. So it may just be a natural progression of the illness.

If it does become larger or greener then I would probably pop along to drs. I probably wouldn't use an AB cream without Drs advice on a chicken pox lesion as there will be virus present too.

[Buda]

Thanks SMS. It has a red ring around it - looks very different to his other ones which have now all almost healed. It isn't bothering him but I want to pop it!

[miniandme]

Really bad mummy alert coming up !!!
DT's have just gotten over the pox and both of them had one spot each just as you describe,DT1 had hers on her chin and DT2 had his on the side of his hand,i have to admit i popped the head off them !!Made sure everything was very clean round about,hands in sanitiser gel etc and once the head was off it dried up and was fine .

[CarGirl]

please keep a close eye on it because if strep A gets into the blood stream through an infected chicken pox spot they get very very ill very quickly. As long as he is well it's okay but if he gets at all ill then it could be strep A.

[Buda]

mini - I suggested that but he said no way!

CarGirl - I did worry about that. Will keep and eye and if no better will take to doc tomorrow to be on safe side. He is still fine in himself and it doesn't seem to be as bad.

[Musukebba]

More likely to be staphylococcal than strep. Can you put a dab of germolene on it and cover with a circular plaster? Check on it each day and do go to GP if it doesn't show signs of healing or he gets a temperature.

[Buda]

Took him to doc as you were posting Musukebba! It wasn't any better and I figured better to go to doc on Friday than need to on Sat/Sun. It's fine - have a prescription for antiseptic cream if needed.

Doc then said his eyes were a bit red and recommend we see an eye specialist and if that turns up nothing then back to her to see if allergies as she is an allergist! (We are in Budapest and go to a private clinic - get the feeling she is drumming up business! Usually see one of 3 paeds who we know fairly well - hadn't seen this doc before.)

[Musukebba]

OK good and glad you have the antiseptic cream just in case

Conjunctivitis is not a normal post-infectious complication of chickenpox. Do they look red to you, and if so is it bilateral or just one eye?

[Buda]

Hi Musukebba - His eyes are a little red - one more that the other - I think that one is because he had two chicken pox spots under that eye in the eyelash line. She did ask if he uses a computer a lot which he has been. Because of being home for over a week he has had more time than normal on tv, PC and Playstation.

I will give it till end of next week and see how it looks when he is back to normal school routine. If still red will take him to be checked. It could well be allergies as I get hayfever and he was allergic to dairy when little so obv prone to allergies.

Are you a doctor? You sound very knowledgeable! Thanks for help.

[Musukebba]

Hi Buda: that's a good observation about the eye-lid lesions and the redness may well be related to that: possibly the crusts are irritating the cornea whilst they heal. Keeping a watch on things for now sounds like the best idea, in case they go a bit gunky or the redness gets worse.

BTW I'm a clinical virologist in a teaching hospital... but we do see quite a range of bacterial superinfections after viral illnesses. Closer to home, germolene used to work very well on my DDs when living abroad, after their mosquito bites wouldn't heal in the humid climate and were always getting infected.

[Buda]

Aah. That explains the medical know-how! Clinical virologist sounds very clever!

I love germolene - can't get it here in Budapest. Must get some next time I am home.

[AnnasBananas]

Use some anti-biotic ointment if you have any eg Fucidine. This cleared up dd's infected chicken pox within three days or so