Chicken Pox Scars - What else can I do?

[Disorganisedmum]

Mt DS recently had chicken pox - 5 weeks ago - had what I would consider to be a very bad case - so many on his neck he couldn't even move his head :( and has been left with many scars to his face, particularly near his nose and on his cheeks - remarkably his neck although looking scarred the scars are flat - unlike those on his face which are the text book crater type scars.

I have been putting bio oil on them twice a day for three weeks and am wondering if there are any other suggestions out there to reduce the scars. He is very very fair in colouring (white blonde hair and blue eyes and attracts many stares whilst we are out and about because of his continued spotty appearance as the scars are still very red). Apologies if this may sound trivial only I am desperate to do something - could cry each time I look at them!

All suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks

Yes its the looks that annoy me too. People can be very nosy and rude. I was advised by our dermatologist to only use cetraben moisturiser, put on face in the bath and wash off, I then moisturise her face with it afterwards. Sunblock daily regardless of the weather - she advised Clinique city block SPF 40, it has a very slight tint to it and really helps the appearance, it's about 16pounds but I bought it 2 months ago and there's still loads left. I tell dd it's suncream obviously which it is but it does make them look less obvious to her friends etc.

It was Easter for us too, been a nightmare since.

Anyway hope that advice helps

Take care

I can relate to almost all of you as this was us exactly a year ago with DD1 and DS. One of DD1's spots (on her nose) got infected, she was on antibiotics. We were very careful with scabs, but the one on her nose was massive so it fell off prematurely by accident. I was absolutely gutted, cried (secretly) for months afterwards. It was raw red for a long long time, went to derma doctor who blatantly told us that the scar will never disappear, try and live with it. I spent all my free time on the internet researching the subject, searching for some miracle cream....drove myself potty really. Even ordered scar cream from abroad. In the end I decided to use only one product, organic rosehip oil and believe that it helped her scar immensely. It contains very high amounts of essential fatty acids, Vitamin A and E, which all help rebuild skin tissue, especially good for indented scars.
Someone above suggested silicone based creams, I researched those thoroughly and even used them myself, they've been developed to help keloid type (raised) scars and are not supposed to do much for indented ones, but I'm glad some people found them useful for chicken pox scars.

dd is nearly 14 and had this at 8 months old - despite the hospital she was in at the time telling me babies under 1 yr old don't get chicken pox.grrrrrrr.

she was covered in spots.the scars that were left were red for a long while but now she has grown so much the dents left are really not that noticeable and are part of her tbh.

i did not mention them as she was growing up but if she asked i said we could look into options when she was older.now she is obsessed with make up etc and never seems to be bothered by them.

i don't think the dents ever go but of course the child grows and this makes the marks seem smaller and less noticeable.

ds had chicken pox when he was 7 weeks old, was covered in them, and had lots of scars. they were red for about 6 months, but once they faded, they're hardly noticeable now (he's 6). even the worst one on his cheek which left a big crater, no-one spots it till i point it out. the ones on his head all turned to moles. i didn't put anything on the scars while they were healing, it just takes time.

Thankyou for the reassuring replies, Phonix I think I read your post somewhere about your dd's nose, I'm glad it has improved. The derm has reiterated the same to us really that once they fade they will be hardly noticeable I just can't see it at the moment, they have faded a lot but in bad light they look still very bad, I'm still finding it very distressing, my DH keeps telling me I need to move forward not back but it's difficult, as she has so many on her face.

Hopefully in Sept when she starts reception they will have faded more I do hope so for her sake as despite us never mentioning it to her etc the children at school do and we can't protect from her that, that's what is most upsetting tbh.

Thanks again xx

Hartey,
My DD1 started school last september, and although she had only one scar but it was very noticable being right in the middle of her face and still quite red during autumn and winter. Not one of her peers or teachers at school ever said anything or even stared at her. To be honest it helped me the most, so I could get on with life and forget about it at least when we were out and about.
When they are 4 and 5 children have accidents resulting in scars all the time, so they don't take much notice of their peers looking slightly different for a (short) while. Plus, whatever she looks like by september, her classmates will get used to her looking like that because (most of them) didn't know her before. And when her spots finally fade they still won't notice anything different about her, because it is a slow(ish) process and doesn't happen overnight!

They will get better over time....and later, if they bother your DD she can have pulsed dye laser on them...that's a very good type of scar removal and doesn't even hurt. BUt as her face is still growing I would hold out for them going away tbh....so many changes happen as they get bigger.

My son had it in January and his face gad scars on the forehead and eyes. We just got back from Cyprus where despite being slathered in F50 he got a hefty dose of sunshine and they've gone! Could sunshine be the answer or just coincidence that like another poster wrote they can fade after time??

Thankyou all, I guess 3 months isn't that long and I need to be more patience. From a school point of view about 30 out of the 60 children do know her as they all attended school nursery together, and unfortunately a few of the children do comment on her face saying they don't want to play with her (boys not girls), I guess by sept they will hopefully of forgotten.

She's a sensitive little girl and needs lots of reassurance a bit like her mum!!!

X

hi could I just ask for those who replied did you take your children swimming while you were waiting for the scars to fade? As it could take several months difficult to avoid really?

Don't want to make them more red

Many thanks

Swimming no, but they have been in paddling pools during last summer. I do think, however, that swimming pools can't really cause any harm or prolong the healing process once the scabs fall off and the scars are a couple of weeks old as the healing of the skin takes place from within.
What I do know however is that you must avoid the sun!!!!

Most chicken pox scars will fade completely with time provided they didnt become deeply infected with scratching (needing antibiotic type of infected).

If you think of it how many adults do you see with scarring caused by chicken pox? I cant think of anyone I know, and I cant believe none of them had very severe chicken pox!

Thankyou for your replies, the scars are fading a lot but she has been left with very badly damaged skin between her eyes, on her cheeks and forehead, yes the redness is fading but the pock marks remain.

We have been out for the day today and she has been looked at, it doesnt look like chicken pox just that she is badly scarred, she didn't have normal run of the mill chicken pox it was v severe.

This is unfortunately something that is not going to fade or going to go away.
And I am still struggling to come to terms with it perhaps never will.

Hartey, I feel your pain, I really do :-(. Until the redness goes completely there is a constant reminder of this dreadful illness and you worry about the future too. But there are plenty of really inspirational stories on here with positive outcomes. Right now it's hard to believe that there will come a time when you'll be able to look at your DD's face the same way you did before CP struck - but it WILL happen!!
I don't want to give you false hope, but seeing that it happened to so many of us, I think it's safe to say that a number of those spots will fill out over the next year or so, whilst the others will fade considerably as her skin stretches through growing. Hang in there!!!

Thankyou Phonix for your kind words. I do try and take comfort from some of the stories on here but every time I look at my dd's damaged face I find it difficult to be positive, the scars look worse now they are fading it will be 4 months next week so am beginning to lose hope.

So scared for her starting school and I know the other kids will say things to her, dd herself asked me if her face will look like it did before, of course I reassure her and never ever mention them to her but she is not blind! And she is nearly 5 she knows she looks different.

But thankyou we will stay strong x

Hi all, just an update on dd, there's still redness in her scars some have faded but are still very noticeable she has about 4 you can see, 7 small holes between her eyes and a large one in the middle of her nose which now has a milia cyst growing from it which looks horrible, derm will remove this eventually.

My confidence has gone and I am very wary when I take her out in case someone says something to her tbh.

Any one out there with a non normal case of chicken pox please? Its been over 4 months now :(

Bump, bump bump this thread please. I'm guessing the ones who were concerned on this thread there childrens scars have now improved??

Just seen that this thread is still active having posted early on. Hartley, please try not to let this worry you so much, I promise you that the scars really will fade hugely. Perhaps my earlier post was a little flippant, but I cannot even begin to explain to you how distraught I was by my DD's appearance after what happened to her so i do know what you are going through. My DD is blond, blue eyed and very fair skinned and the contrast against her livid scars was awful. It is now nearly 18 months since she had the pox, yes, she does still have some indents in her face where she had badly infected spots (particularly the corner of one eye and above that same eye just below her eyebrow, above her lips and on her forehead), but honestly you only see them in certain light and they truly do not affect her appearance. I still believe (and have been told by her doctor) that the indents will continue to soften with time. We are lucky that the worst infection sites (the ones with the enormous holes that I described in my first post) were mainly on her chest, back and legs. Those scars make her look like she has been shot which is kind of weird, but even those are now better than I ever believed they would be and continue to improve. 4 months is not a long time, really, it isn't. Try not to focus on it too much and look again in another 6 months or a year and you'll be surprised at how much it has changed. My DD couldn't go swimming for nearly 3 months after the chicken pox as it took about that long for some of the infection sites to finally heal over, but then she resumed her school swimming lessons with no issues and I took her quite happily despite her odd appearance - why on earth not? No one will say anything, and even if they did you would just reply that she's well over the pox now so they need not worry themselves. DD1 was in Reception when this all happened, none of the other children cared about her weird appearance - most of them also had the pox around the same time as she did when it was going round and so they were used to seeing varying levels of spottiness and scarring and anyway they honestly give it little or no thought at that age even if they haven't had it yet themselves. Please please try not to worry, it will get much better but it takes time.

Thankyou nellytheelephant for taking the time to post again and to reassure me. I appreaciate your empathy, my dd skin is milky White and your right the scars are very prominent because of this, I am trying to focus less on them which is hard when we spend all our time together, but me worrying isn't going to magic them away is it?

Its unfortunate that she has developed this cyst on her nose as well, I think that's what people/kids notice most tbh, although to my knowledge nobody has said anything or pointed it out.

I am Pleased your dd is recovering well it sounds like you have been through a horrible time, I hope I can do as you are and reassure others maybe a year from now, I do hope so.

Thankyou once again x

I feel the pain of the people on here. My 13 yr old just recovered from a bad case of chicken pox and had huge blisters on his face. As the scabs come off, some are a small indent and others are larger. A friend told me about the company derma e. They have a product called scar gel that helps to break up scar tissue and promote healthy tissue. You use it 3-5 times a day. We'll see what happens. I've never posted on anything like this before, I don't know if I'm posting in the right place, and don't know if I'll be able to find it again. But in the event I can't, you can look into derma e. I'm trying to come to terms with this myself, and probably the best thing I can do is to tell him that what you look like does not determine who you are. It's who you are on the inside.

Hi disorganisedmom. I realise this is a really old post, Just wanted to ask how your sons face is looking 3 years on? My sin is in a similar position to your was. Really bad on every part of his body. Especially his face, 3 months on. The scars don't seem to be budging.

H

Hi, my 4 yr old daughter just had cp and is recovering with scabs now. Of course she got the worst on her face, which is why I was looking for some help or advice other mums got. She either picked the worst two (or they fell off) and i am sad to see the big holes in her face now, and so red. She keeps telling me they will go away, so I agree. But they are so big and a perfect circle I'm afraid they won't. :( I am only putting aloe Vera on it a few times a day. Maybe I will try the vitamin e. My doc said my almost 2 year old should start getting them any day now...nervous for that as it was so difficult with my first.

Kempmalaysia how is your daughter doing now? And how is your two yo? Does anyone have an update on how their children scars have developed/improved over time?
Xx

hey i have chickenpox for 2 weeks already .can any one tell me how long d scars takes to remove or what can i use to take it off faster please .