WIBU to put DS in the cone of shame?

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

2.5 yo DS grazed his chin at nursery last week. It scabbed over as usual, but he's started peeling strips of scab and skin off, and now has a large open raw patch on his face. He did it again with a tiny scratch on his cheek, so he's got two raw oozing wounds on his face and he just won't leave them alone! We put plasters on them but he pulls them off after maybe half an hour, and he's now made the chin wound so big plasters won't cover it. They both started off as really minor grazes! Anyone got any advice, short of tying his hands behind his back? It hurts when he pulls bits off and he cries, but it doesn't make him stop!

Scratch mitts agsin?

Mittens??

I don't think he'd keep those on either. Maybe if I made it a game and said he was being a kitten with paws. I'll try!

Is there anything medical to help it heal faster? Cream or anything? I've put Savlon on it but I think he just needs to leave it alone.

Just leave it. Distract. It will most likely heal by itself unless he gives himself impetigo (yello, crusty, rapidly spreading) then he'll need to be seen.

I know with my DC at 2.5 yrs mittens would be straight off!

Only thing I can think of is making sure his nails are cut very short so it's harder to pick?

Oh yikes, that sounds difficult. This would not look good, but could you wrap gauze over his chin, round the top of his head, repeat?

X post with Karma.

have they become infected with impetigo? that can make wounds grow rapidly worse.

My ds did exactly this at 2.5 and is now 10 and has an area of red bumpy skin where the scar was. If I had a time machine I would definitely go for a cone.

I'd try short nails plus a plaster or micropore on every finger tip, plus cream and plaster (probably gauze and micropore actually) for the face wounds. Hopefully he will waste so much time trying to get the finger plasters off he won't get to the face

Is it intended picking or nighttime?

My ds1 had pretty bad eczema when he was a toddler and to stop him picking/scratching I used Scratchsleeves. Pretty sure I got them from Amazon. It looks like a shrug but the sleeves aren't open at the end so the hands are enclosed. Really tricky for them to get off too :)

My son did exactly the same thing at the same age. One tiny cut lasted months and scarred because he kept picking the bloody thing.

Tried to upload pics but just froze my phone for ages. It isn't yellow, so hopefully not impetigo.

Oh dear, North, that's exactly what I was worried about!

I'm liking adagio's suggestion about plastering his fingers!

It's intended during the day - he peeled a long strip off in the car yesterday and made it bleed. His pillow and sheet were covered in bloody blotches this morning so I'm not sure what's going on at night - yesterday I was hoping it'd have scabbed in the night but I think he'd picked it all off before coming through.

I would slather either Metanium - nappy rash cream or Lansinoh - normally used for healing cracked nipples from breastfeeding onto the sore areas while he's fast asleep every night until it heals. I have a child with SN who simply doesn't understand not to touch affected area and I've found these products to be brilliantly effective.

The Metanium is a fantastic barrier cream and very healing. It is very bright yellow and very pigmented and may stain bedding, jyst to warn you.

The Lansinoh is fantastic with soreness and reducing redness. Very, very greasy stuff which is great for healing but again, your bedding may get marked. It needs to be warmish (but not hot) to apply otherwise it's too hard and unworkable. And will wake your child up when you're trying to get it rubbed in. I generally put it in my trouser pocket at teatime to have it soft for nighttime application.

I know this won't solve the problem of your child picking at face during day, but it will heal things up significantly faster thereby reducing time there is a wound to be picked. Good luck!

I've only just discovered this stuff but germolene liquid plaster is brilliant stuff. You paint it over the wound and it is like a new layer of skin over the top, it is a bugger to get off but the only problem would be that it initially stings when you apply it.

He wouldn't be able to pick the sore through the liquid skin if that makes sense.

Second attempt at pic

My daughter picks her face a lot (eczema) and it gets infected. It's so horrid. All I can do is try to ignore it and keep her nails short but most of the time she's in bed so it's hard to stop her. Occasionally explaining that her face will get sore helps but mostly not. Seems to be a comfort thing for her. Try to keep it clean, his nails short and hopefully that'll help ..good luck.

The liquid plaster the other user mentioned sounds like a good idea!

You can get a thing called scratchsleeves. They're like a bolero with mitts at the end. We had them for DD's eczema. They can wear them during the day tho we only used them at night.

We stopped using them at about 2yo but they sell them up to 6-7 years old.

I have both Metanium and Lansinoh in the house! At this stage I don't care if it stains things.

The Germolene stuff sounds good too - shall try that as well once we get out to a chemist.

I'm not sure about the scratchsleeves thing. He's very dexterous and would be infuriated by it!

Would he be "scared" out of it? It sounds horrible but when my DS was about that age and wouldn't brush his teeth I googled "rotten teeth" and he looked at the photos in abject horror at what awaited him. He never missed another toothbrushing!

Could you find some bad but not horrifying photos to show him of bad infections? I hope this doesn't sound awful but sometimes a "visual support" can help them to have a more concrete idea of the consequences.