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

[Loubylou21]

Good evening ladies, looking for some hope that these dreadful craters might improve/fill in or even go (??) in time? 😢

[Zippysbird]

What cream user 1477283453??

Loubylou21 from what i have been told and read (and thats a lot) they do fade and fill in over time. Maybe not 100% but not as noticable. My friend told me hers on her face was bad as a kid and 30 years later she said look at it now.... I hadnt even noticed it! My LO'S is on the end of the nose and after 15 months has faded a lot and filled in a bit i havent used any cream lately but sort of vary between bio oil, aloe gel and use sun cream.

Hope this helps x

[Loubylou21]

Thankyou so much for taking the time to reply. Like you all I'm guessing, am left feeling a little shocked about the devastation it leaves behind. My daughter had it two weeks before ds and is comparatively unscathed. I don't think 'google' always helps and has probably just made me feel like there is no hope and that indents are here to stay. Thanks for restoring a little hope. I'm not very good at being patient and keep hoping for an overnight miracle x

[Dweet1259]

Sorry if I am resurrecting an old thread but I'd love to hear how all of your children are doing years down the line? My DD had severe chicken pox on her face at the end of April and the scarring is severe - 20 plus craters on her face. Hoping for some advice / reassurance!

[herewearenowentertainus]

bump bump bump dweet that could be me! 1 of dd's (6) had cp a week after Easter, think i can count 27 dented scars on face some big, some small, forehead ones upset me most. and one ds (2) cp 2 days later, more like 15 indents face worst top of nose but his are more shallow elsewhere on face, sometimes i dare to hope will fill in? they both had loads of spots but not infected and didn't scratch. 2 other dc had normal amount of spots, few scars on body one has 1 on face but i consider that fine and perfectly normal. for dents on face i share everyone's distress, have shed many tears and scoured internet. sympathies to all. any updates?

[Dweet1259]

Hi there, sorry hadn't seen your message. DDs are fading in terms of colour I guess and people (my mum and DH) saying they are improving but it is still less than two months for us and from what I've read and been told this us very early days!! Some days I feel positive and hopeful and others I still get upset about it. I know deep down they won't all go but I'd love a magic mirror that showed me 12 months down the line, perhaps I'd stop worrying / being as upset?! It's just horrible and I've not seen any kids anywhere near as bad so maybe they do get better otherwise surely you'd see more kids around with them?!!

[Dweet1259]

H

[herewearenowentertainus]

thank you for reply dweet, sorry delayed tried a little break from searching cp think i have read absolutely everything relevant online, driving myself crazy! like you, some days more positive than others. ds's almost look like the dents are lessening apart from biggest at top of nose. dd's not much hope for tbh. the redness has faded a lot but makes me feel less hopeful in a way that dents are still very much visible. dh has quite a few large dents on face from cp at 6 years old - though they were infected but gp did not give antibiotics on 2 visits mil now experienced nurse to know this. wonder if it can be true that not enough people have these scars for them to be permanent for all severe cases of cp? never met anyone else but obv with dh's leaves us regretting not getting vaccine. when i try to think positively i can come up with 3 things - at least they're young enough to not be too bothered at the mo - hopefully they will have improved a bit by secondary age when they'll be more bothered - if they want professional treatment it will be in over 10 years from now so options/outcomes will hopefully have improved. sorry not positive post in general but hope 3 good thoughts may help you too

[herewearenowentertainus]

xxx

[fake68]

Hi all just thought I would share my experience, my DS is now over 5 years post chicken pox and although the scars on his face 20+ pitted some have filled in and others have improved but they are still very visible even more so in certain lights. He is 15 nearly 16 and we have decided to try Dermapen and a light chemical peel every 4-6 weeks for maybe 5 or 6 treatments first one in August. I will probably start a new tread detailing his progress (with Pics). Although most of your children are younger and their skin will heal better than my DS as he was older I thought it might help to see a treatment results (fingers crossed) as there is very little information on treatment results available on the internet.. I am so nervous about this as any improvement will hopefully help his confidence as he is now at that age when his appearance is important to him. xx

[Dweet1259]

Hi Fake68, I'd love to hear more about your sons progress with the treatment. And when his scars were still 'healing' how long did they stay red for? My daughters are still so obvious and it's been 3 months now, it's really getting me down. Do you think there was any reason some filled in as opposed to others?

[Dweet1259]

How are your dd's now hereweare? I'm exactly the same as you, just hoping for some miracle cure in ten years. I completely understand your distress though. How did you know your daughters were infected? I wish id then my daughter to the gp but just thought it was normal until they fell off!!

[fake68]

Dweet1259, I will start a fresh thread when he starts his treatment...the redness took about 5/6 months to fade completely but when the redness goes they will look a lot better, the best thing I found was to massage the area morning and night it doesn't really matter what you use but nothing too oily or harsh it's the massage that helps the most and apply sun block daily.

I think the less deep ones filled in better also the ones on his chin and upper lip filled in but the ones on his cheeks and forehead didn't really improve much but he was older and had less time for skin on his face to stretch out.

[herewearenowentertainus]

thanks so much fake that would be brilliant to hear how your son gts on with treatment, would really appreciate that, everything crossed for you that it makes a big difference. really feel for you and ds being that bit older having cp imagine that's a lot harder xx and thanks dweet for carrying on post. mil says her ds/my dh's cp were infected tho she didn't know at the time but did see gp twice as worried, she knows about wounds now. says the ones that were were very gloopy and white around edges and oozing. tbh my dd's weren't, but when they looked so bad on her face, massive boil type spots and loads of them, we got doc to prescribe antibiotics kind of on a just in case basis. dd had more normal amount on body, guess i'm grateful for no scars there. honestly thought she'd be ok as she didn't pick any. took ds to gp too as his whole body was pickled and i wondered about a medicine you can have for cp but, if it makes you feel any better that you didn't see gp, she would not give anything, was a different lady v patronising and said take him home for calpol. anyhow, still a bit of redness, 3 and a half months on. ds's about the same. dd i think middle of forehead scars where there are lots of small ones could possibly have shrunk a bit, but i don't know if it's just me getting more used to them. i've added 2 things for them - only small - they're having multivits with omega 3 as supposed to be good for skin and i'm using an anti aging serum at night! can't officially recommend that, don't know if its ok for children but can't see the harm and supposed to help collagen production. i'm still so gutted but think i may be becoming less obsessed more accepting xxx

[Missmiller]

I thought my daughters were infected, her face was so covered, I took her to Doctors as I was terrified by it..,each spot was really big, about a 2p size. She had at least 100 spots on her face and many elsewhere too. Unfortunately her face was worse hit. She was only 2.5yrs at time. When the scabs fell off the pits were awful, I mean, massive, deep, angry, red. It's two years and 3 months down the line and there are still marks BUT many craters filled in. The ones that didn't were the deep, smallest circles in the middle of her forehead and between her eyebrows. That said, I barely notice them now and let me tell you, I was so gutted about them for at least 12-18 months after. The redness faded about 8 months after chicken pox. It they still went red when crying or hot but don't anymore.

[Dweet1259]

Thanks Fake68 I look forward to it and fingers crossed for your DS, I hope you start to see an improvement soon!! It's interest that's lots of people say it's the ones on the forehead that don't fill in, that's where 90% of my daughters are!!

[Dweet1259]

Thanks hereweare, I do give dd a multivit but hadn't thought about omega 3, will buy some I'm sure it can't harm!! And an anti ageing serum seems like a good idea too!! I'm coming to the end of the derma effecx and kelo cote, have used it for three months and wonder whether to try something new now? I've also been using boots 8hr SPF 50 every day but when the summers over I read on a previous post / thread that a dermatologist had recommended clinique City SPF 40 that helped with appearance too so think I'll switch to that!! I think there's a long road ahead of us and I feel so sad that this has happened and wish I could spend less time thinking and worrying about it!!

[Dweet1259]

Thank you missmiller!! That's inspiring!! It's also very comforting to hear that you seen improvements from even 12/18 months on, I was worried that it got to a point where they'd just stop getting better. It's worrying that the forehead ones didn't fill in but in all honesty most of my dd's don't appear too deep, if a few remain I'm not concerned but if all of them stay I think she'll want to treat them when she's old enough!!

[Missmiller]

Ah I wasn't clear, most of my dsughters were also on her forehead, about 6 of them remain but the rest (about 20) have faded significantly, filled in or gone xx

[Dweet1259]

Oh fab, what an improvement!! Fingers crossed then for the same outlook x

[herewearenowentertainus]

wow that is encouraging missmiller, glad your dd's got a lot better, i love to hear such positive stories of improvement. my ds has quite a few near top of forehead which i am certain now have lessened, but his inbetween eyebrows, nose and high cheek ones can't see improvement other than colour fading. sigh, like you dweet, just wish it wasn't a permanent worry/upset/obsession! sympathy to you all in the same boat. tbvh i think it would help if real life friends would give a bit of sympathy but i think they don't because it came from an everyday illness and is not a big deal unless it's your child - a friend's daughter recently broke her arm and i and other friends all paid it lots of attention and offered help but the selfish part inside of me was thinking yes you've got a tricky summer but she won't be scarred for life grrr! i know there are also a million worse things that could happen so i do try to keep it in perspective!!

[Dweet1259]

It's funny isn't if, some days I think they're getting better, others I still feel so upset by it!! I think the sunshine makes them lots worse, even where wearing spf50!! On days like today they seem better, and think my DDs are shrinking too albeit slowly!! Were definitely in it for the long haul and it's nice to have support because everyone else seems over it whereas I'm not yet!!

[herewearenowentertainus]

that sounds so similar to what i feel too, wish we and others weren't in this position but it really does help to have some company, thank you for that. and yes, lighting does make such a difference, have seen someone else say too you can be feeling a bit better about it until the sunlight/shadows catch all the scars and then it's right back to doom and gloom. we're the same sort of timing, not yet been 4 months so, like you say, there's a year or more's recovery time still for skin so hopefully they'll look quite a lot better in the end xx

[Dweet1259]

Me again!!

Hereweare how are you getting on? Any improvements?

My DD scars are still pink, they are SLOWLY fading but it really is such a slow slow process and I'm still so worried about the end result.

For those that had DC who's scars filled in, what was the process? When did they start to fill in and how long did it take? Some of DD have almost little 'buds' of skin but some don't seem to have anything yet!! Almost 4 months on can I give up hope?

[Missmiller]

They just very gradually fade. In colour and in depth. Not all totally go, but they become insignificant as the face grows bigger. My dd has a couple of debts on her high cheek and about 4 that bother me slightly (on occasions when in direct light) but 99.9% of the time, I just don't notice. And I was initially just like you. Xx