Child's skin infection on face and no one cares

[TheHazelCritic]

As above, dreadful spots on her lips/nose,been going on over 18 months. Only after a year referral done to dermatologist,still waiting for appointment.
Spots go but new ones appear.
My poor DD(9) is so upset and refuses going to parties and meeting friends.
Go couldn't care less,no idea what it is ,just guesses and gives her useless creams(fucidine H, antifungal) but no change
Private costs so bloody much.
NHS is a joke

Have u tried gp online appt via your own surgery, by describing how long etc and sending photos? I managed to get an appt and 2 referrals that way, one of which the dermatology consultant gave me a prescription without seeing me.

Have you asked for a cancellation ? Could you attend at short notice?
Whereabouts are you ?
My partner has good dermatology experience at Kings in London. Adult service though.

It could be impetigo and may need antibiotics.

I have used the prescribed antibiotic cream for weeks. After a few different creams I have left it alone for weeks again.this latest photos are after a month of no intervention. I am keeping photos and showed last GP but will show them again
I'm just so sad to see her upset about her physical appearance when she's so young. She already has all her teen years to worry about body image.

Could you request that she sees a different GP and lay it on with a trowel how long this has been going on and that her mental health is suffering because she's becoming socially isolated.

24 months wait for dermatology here and then fobbed off with "dermatitis". GPs were fucking useless.

I'm a big fan of hibiscrub for lots of things in animals but PLEASE do the thing that almost nobody does and read the instructions and dilute it appropriately - it can easily cause contact dermatitis if used undiluted.

I'd consider a qualified herbalist if I were in your shoes - especially if you can find one who specialises in skin conditions. If they've taken a decent qualification they will have studied different skin conditions in a fair bit of detail, and they will have options to provide you with internal and/or external prescriptions to help the body to tackle it.

That's a great idea. Where do you find herbalist? Or do you mean those Chinese medicine shops?

No online app at my GP,just phone or wait for f2f unfortunately

I saw a herbalist for anxiety it was £150 per appointment (including meds) you would be better saving the money to go private

No online form, no email, no nothing?
I agree with pp, attach a photo, send an email. Then they'll be an paper trail, evidence, they won't like it.

ThunderLeaf · Today 17:49

Hi I think this is molluscum contagiosum.

Well, that sounds like a winner and it's certainly more affordable than a private consultation.

TheHazelCritic

It may be irrelevant now, but our vet told me to wash the dog's infected operation wound 3 times a day, so first thing in the morning, noon and before bed. I'm pretty certain that there are instructions on the bottle.

It tells you how to make the correct concentration.

No,no online anything,unless u have appointment with the doctor then you have to call the reception and they will give you a link in a message to send one,and only one ,email
So need to get an appointment first anyway

My DC had a weird spot on his face, I used Benzoyl Peroxide spot cream I use on myself, used a tiny bit a couple of times and it disappeared.

If its an infection, then every time its popped its spreads a bit more. Also second trying a pharmacy.

OP, going slightly against the grain here but I have dreadfully sensitive skin and suffered badly with spots in my twenties. I tried every cream, lotion, potion under the sun and it just got worse or stayed the same. Tried antibiotics but no joy. I started to realise that my skin couldn’t cope with being scrubbed or any of these potions or lotions, so I started just splashing by my face with very cold water in the morning and patting dry. Then used a small amount of sebum control moisturiser from garnier.
Evening I would just dab a bit of garnier face wash on, but not scrub or even rub it in. Literally let it touch my face and then rinsed with warm water and then splashed with cold. Pat dry again, no rubbing. Again with a little bit of sebum control moisturiser afterwards.
My skin improved massively.

Even to this day, if I dare rub/scrub or use any kind of toner on my face, I get awful whiteheads all over.
A few days of splashing very cold water on my face and it clears up.
I’d seriously try this technique and see what happens. Some skin just breaks out more the more you use on it. My skin thrives with cold water.

It could be molluscum. If you get your phone camera out and zoom on some spots, can you see an indent in the middle of a spot? It's like a donut hole that doesn't go all the way through. If so then it's likely molluscum. It's spread from the liquid from the spots. My eldest had this as a baby. Each night I would gently squeeze each spot. If it popped I would hold the cotton pad in place until it stopped oozing then I covered the spot in witchhazel gel. It did begin to clear after this. This is actually against medical advice which is to leave the spots alone - but it worked for us.

I also agreere molluscum, my little one had it, antibiotics helped when got infected, but we were told there was no real cure, some respond to molludab, but ultimately like any virus it just has to burn itself out which we were told takes up to 18 months. This advice came from gp sending a photo to dermatology, which can be quicker than getting an appointment

Have you tried calling the dermatology team secretary, and very politely explaining that you are so sorry to call and you know they are very busy but if there is any way your daughter could be seen quicker as its causing her so nuch enotional distress, you will take short notice cancellations, can come anytime etc. More than once I have got lucky with them saying, 'I have just had a cancellation for this afternoon if you can get here in a couple of hours'.

Apologies if already suggested but have they been prescribed anything anti fungal?

it's in the OP.

Hi,

I have seen on amazon reviews with photos people have applied this to the body, I think it's common in the joints of knees and elbows too.

That Molludab website has many informative videos so you could have a look there.

Yes it needs to be applied to every spot.

There is a small spreader type thing and it actually looks like not much is going on, but if you shine a torch you can see liquid has been applied with the spreader. I got DC to hold torch towards face while I applied it, some teamwork haha.

My understanding in laymans terms is molluscum contagiosum basically goes unnoticed by the body and molludab breaks it down and then the body realises there's a problem and intervenes, scabbing it over and healing the skin.

I really do feel for you as I was googling and felt so sorry for DC and confidence I felt was at risk of being affected, classmates commenting etc.

I'm obviously not a doctor but it does look similar with the photos you have posted. We had little white ones and some grew much larger. If they got caught they'd bleed.

Check the Molludab website and the amazon link they have in their website to read amazon reviews too.

Feel free to ask any other questions x

Could it be impetigo? I found that we needed oral antibiotics to clear it up, creams didn't work.

To be honest private GPs can start at that for just the appointment without meds.

The key search term I would use would be "registered western medical herbalist".

I don't think it looks anything like Molloscum, after 2 years of experience with it.

This does not look like molluscum. Don’t waste your money on a herbalist.
I don’t think the GP did anything wrong here. They are a generalist and a specialist would have expected the GP to a) give it time to settle by itself b) try simple things first over a few months. It sounds like they have referred at the appropriate point. It’s not their fault that there is a wait for dermatology. What they can do is to send an ‘expedite request’ with recent photos explaining the impact on your daughter.

Hibiscrub is a good shout. Is your daughter really good at not touching / picking OP? Do you change her pillowcase and towels when she gets an outbreak ?