Anyone able to say what this is on my face? Impetigo?

[Alabasterangel6]

I do appreciate this is a terrible photo and you are a bunch of strangers on the net, but getting a bit fed up and wondered if anyone had had something like this and had it resolved.

This is a patch to the lower corner of my mouth on my chin. I can’t photograph it better without being identifying.

It’s been like this for about 7 weeks. It’s not spots (like hard spots with muck in them) it’s a sore red patch which blisters and weeps. The weeping is crusty and clear/golden and comes away easily.

I had a patch in the same place before and it went with fucidin cream but this swine will not budge. I was told then it was impetigo, and sure enough it DID go with the cream relatively quickly.

I’ve tried washing it with hibiscub, I’ve tried alcohol based cleansing (Clinique), I’ve tried washing with antibacterial soap and then nothing else. I am scrupulous about not touching it and keeping it clean. I haven’t put make up over it. I’ve tried these things individually (not all together and for several days) but nothing works.

I start to see it fade, then it seems to flare back up.

I went to the practice nurse 8 days ago and she said to use fucidin cream, she said she didn’t know what it was for certain but was behaving like impetigo in the redness and crusting. However it’s just as bad today with zero improvement. Some days I feel like it’s much les red then I’ll wake up the next day with a little watery blister again and the whole thing just comes back.

I find it remarkable that if it is impetigo no one else in the house has caught it!

It’s not sore sore, but I can feel it prickling. Never bleeds, no pus, just these watery spots and crusts. When it’s really ‘up’ it would be a about 2cm x 2cm.

I’m going back to the nurse tomorrow but anyone got any ideas? I’m getting fed up and want it gone!

They look like cold sores. You need Zovirax cold sore cream. It's £5 ish for a tiny tube. Be generous when you apply it. Keep your fingers off it too, the more you pick at it the longer it will stay.

So slather it in Zovirax and ignore, ignore, ignore (even when they itch like the devil)

I find impertigo spreads very quickly!

I’ve had that passing thought but surely I wouldn’t have them for over 6 weeks? And they don’t go really scabby like coldsores. The crusts are tiny (like pinheads) but there are several of them in the cluster?

The prickling is telling you it's still coming out. So don't be surprised if it gets worse before it gets better.

Next time the first time you feel that prickling reach for that cream as you may be able to get rid of it before it starts

And yes, it would be a miracle that I’ve been in the house with two young DC, and DH, and in over 6 weeks they’ve all avoided it if it is impetigo?

If it is and you’ve tried the medication it might be best to try and boost your immune system to help fight it, whilst still applying the cream.

I have a month long cold sore and went to the doctor basically you can only treat it in the first few weeks and tthen nothing will work! So I took kefir every day, I can only imagine that my immune system needed a hand as it cleared up in a couple of days after that. I took kefir first thing and last thing at night.

Impetigo spreads very quickly!

It would be like a goatee now if you’d had it for 7 weeks

I’m going to pop to the pharmacist as soon as DH is back to take over.

So seriously? I can get coldsores on my chin? I have had one before on my lip but it was years ago and only had it once! Wouldn’t a cold sore have healed itself in 7 weeks?

I only have vague memories of the cold sore but it was big and scabby and ‘thick’ whereas this is thin and red and sore. And never gets to a full on big scab just heals red. But yes I can feel a very slight prickling/tingle.

Update:
I went to the pharmacist and he said visually it looked like impetigo but behaviourally sounded like the cold sore virus. Particularly as I’ve had it before in the same spot.

So he said to try Zovirax and continue with the fucidin too as they don’t have any interactions. Within 24 hours it had almost gone but as instructed continued the Zovirax till Friday by which point you couldn’t tell it had been there.

Yesterday I felt the tiniest of sensations in the same area. So tiny I’d barely describe as a tingle, just a feeling, and sure enough a tiny pinprick blister. Same area. Straight away on with Zovirax and I did 4 doses yesterday, with one dose of fucidin just in case. Got up this morning and it’s back with avengance. I’m so fed up!!

I’m otherwise fit and well. Don’t smoke. Healthy diet. Why does this keep happening and what can I do? Back to the GP I know but 6 weeks of it here, less than a week gone and the bastarding thing comes back

Got a wedding to attend at the weekend too.

I'm sorry you have another outbreak. Sadly once the herpes virus ' wakes up ' it can be a bugger to calm it back down. Some people have good results taking a Lysine tablet daily.

Would oral aclivor help? My parents are in the states and my mother says over there you’d be given oral tablets not cream. Google tells me they are available here but have no idea if this is effective.

Today

Are you giving yourself a bit of TLC? probiotics, fruit and veg, plenty of sleep, moisturiser etc? Give your body a helping hand to fight it off.

If it is a cold sore then start taking lysine tablets daily. You can get lysine lip balms too (all available places like amazon and Holland and Barrett). I used to be plagued with them when I was growing up (would literally get one a month and would also sometimes get impetigo too). The only thing that would clear them up quickly and stop another outbreak was the lysine (lots of reviews online about how amazing it is for coldsore sufferers).
My doctor said foods that are high in argennine can cause lengthy outbreaks for some people too (chocolate is one of the worst culprits) and also people low in vit c, d and zinc too who aren’t getting enough sleep

When I had a run of cold sores my doctor gave me Zovirax tablets which worked much better than the cream.
I currently have a cold sore having not had one for two years at least. I now find that Cymex cream works much better than Zovirax

Thank you. I am otherwise well other than the trials of two small DC and being a busy working parent. I am veggie but work hard to make sure my diet is balanced and also take both a multivitamin and a B vitamin complex. I do sleep well and I am not someone who feels ‘shattered’ all the time and otherwise happy/healthy and not stressed. Haven’t recently had a cough/cold or illnesses.

I don’t understand why it had all but gone and now bloody resurfaced.

I’ll go and get some lysine from the health food shop today. And I’ve got some probiotic tablets at home. Literally willing to try anything. GP can’t see me till Friday PM.

@whyiseveryonesoangry can I ask, did you take a short course of the tablets or a suppressive course for longer?

The lysine is honestly a god send. I only get one every couple of years now whereas I used to get at least one a month. I take 1 tablet every day and also always put the lip balm on every morning.
Tea tree oil can also be good for healing them.
Are you due on your period? Mine always seemed to arrive around that time of the month

It’s about 5 days away frosty so could be hormonal, but as I said I had them/it solidly for 6 weeks too?

I would sometimes get one showing up before my period and then it would last ages. Once it had eventually healed i’d get another one showing up before a period and it would also last a few weeks. Total nightmare!

Maybe check with your gp that it isn't perioral dermatitis (or have a quick google yourself to rule it out?). It's in the right place and symptoms sound similar.

Just going to repeat the advice to take lysine. I take about 4 tablets twice a day when I can feel a cold sore coming. Sometimes stops it developing completely. Great stuff.

Have you tried an alternative to Zovirax? I had a cold sore type thing just under my nose which kept coming up every 5 weeks or so for a year - Zovirax didn't work but the chemist own brand (same percentage of active ingredient and £4 cheaper!) did wonders! I apply it at the first tingle but if it does come up, I apply every 2 hours for the first couple of days, rather than the 4 times a day it says on the box - under advice from a medical professional btw!! Oh and keep applying for 5 days after it seems to have gone but only 4 times a day.

Right - progress. I’ve rung the GP who couldn’t see me till Friday and suggested I had a chat with the practise nurse instead (who did the initial impetigo diagnosis and the subsequent herpes one). Helpfully she called me back and I said I’d like to try the oral aciclovir, she agreed, and said she’d write a prescription for a months worth to try which I can collect later today (hurrah) so if I try that and it works, then I guess I know by default that it is herpes virus. I’ll also back it up with lysine I think.

Not sure about the perioral dermatitis pumpkin - although the location is spot on, I can ‘feel’ this (another reason why the nurse said it wasn’t impetigo on the second visit - she said impetigo is painless and cold sores tingle then are painful) plus it does have a characteristic blister which then bursts, produces a crusty clear scab, and eventually heals. That other dermatitis doesn’t seem to do that? Plus this is always, always in the same location. You could draw a 10p round the edge and it would be within that circle.

Still a bit bemused though as cold sores to me are a blister on your lips which then bursts leaving an open ulcery wound, then a thick bloody scans heals over. This isn’t at all like that. It’s tiny tiny pinprick blisters which tingle, then the golden scabby bit forms, then that falls off and it’s just red and bumpy and ugly.

As I say I guess trying the tablets is the starting point.

@blobby10 yes - actually one one I have isn’t Zovirax itself but the generic pharmacist one (careway 5% W/W aciclovir)