Impetigo...OOH or wait till Monday?

[highlandbird]

I'm pretty sure DS1 has impetigo, just found out its been doing the rounds at playgroup, weeping yellow sore on his chin and two more popped up on his cheek and one on his nostril.
Never had it before but I gather its quite infectious, DS2 is only 4 months so I'm a bit anxious about him catching it, plus we have family (with children) coming to stay at the end of the week. Doesn't help that DS1 is very fond of kisses and practically snogs us and DS2..... Am already guessing we will be showing symptoms soon.
So, wwyd? Try and get ooh appt tomorrow or wait till Monday? Would rather it didn't get any worse but feel guilty about the possibility of taking an appt away from someone with a greater need than ourselves.

I would get an out of hours appt

OOH definitely. I'm not being dramatic about it, but both of mine have had it and in my experience, starting ABs quickly made a big difference to recovery.

With my DD it lurked about for about two weeks, i didn't know what it was and then it suddenly became really angry, she ended up needing 4 courses of antibiotics to shift it. When my DS got it I got an OOH appt for a Sunday and the doctor was pleased to have seen him. I do feel his case was 'stopped in its tracks'.

Neither time did anyone else in the family catch it, but do take care with pillowcases, face cloths and towels etc.

Hi, I'm a GP and would go OOH on this one- does spread very quickly sometimes and much easier to treat before it does. I'd ring 111 (or whatever your GP uses) in the morning

Thanks both for your advice, will try and get to a doctor tomorrow then. I'm assuming towels, bedding etc on a hot wash daily to stop it spreading?
Have no experience of this, hoping it will clear up quickly!

X-post Littlereddinosaur, that's reassuring for you to say that, thanks. We're in Scotland so I think I need to ring nhs 24 to make an appointment, will sort it out first thing tomorrow. Thanks for your advice.

Reassuring that I wouldn't be wasting anyone's time rather than the fact it spreads quickly obviously I'm tired and not making much sense.....teething baby!! Thanks all, off to bed for me!

Definitely OOH, it spreads like wildfire! Hope it doesn't get any worse.

I'm in Scotland too, NHS24 will sort you out :). Yes, keep a separate towel for him and hot wash. It's obvious but take care to wash your own hands after touching his face, esp if the doctor prescribes cream to be applied to the sores.

And if you're prescribed flucloxacillin, come back again and ask for tips on how to get them to take it, it's pretty grim tasting!

I was going to say ooh, it's nasty in that it spreads fast around a family and if several people have patches it gets more tricky trying to isolate the infected

Argh, you all have me worried now it sounds like a nightmare!! Didn't realise he might need oral antibiotics he's had a lot of tonsillitis (tonsils out recently) and any type of medicine is a pin him down kicking and screaming job, breaks my heart
Will be extra careful with hand washing and towel washing etc, could have done without this!!

Dd (and then all of us) had it at the begininning of the summer. No-one needed oral anti-b's, however there is a different cream needed for ones in the nostril that the first two gp's we saw didn't prescribe, but the third did and was very surprised we hadn't been given it before. So check about that, as the nostril ones were the worst in dd, particually because they were the ones she couldn't leave alone and so I think caused a lot of the spread.

Good luck, it is a massive pita, but hopefully will soon be all cleared up.

Thanks GobblersKnob (some names on mn make me laugh when typing them out ) I was hoping we would get cream but the doctor said no chance it would work and gave him a weeks worth of foul tasting stuff. I think because he's only two, doesn't really have the best personal hygiene (he sat staring at the doctor whilst picking his nose and slavering over his toy car, disgusting child!!!) doctor reckoned it would just keep spreading unless we covered his entire body and hands in cream!!
So fingers crossed we caught it early enough and it doesn't spread, hot washed sheets and towels will do the same again tomorrow.
Always something isn't there?! And bed now!

Oh and we've managed to bribe the medicine in with choc buttons so far which is a revelation, and means it hasn't been too traumatic for him or us...