Do Chicken pox indents ever fade

[ArielBelleElsa]

As the title says...does anyone have any experience of indents on the face fading? My daughter aged 3.5 had pox a year ago and still has quite a number of face indents (about 10-15). Some have improved in terms of depth, some are still as deep. Do they grow out as children age? My daughters are very noticeable particularly in brightly lit areas.

I know this isn't major but to me these marks are pretty severe and therefore upsetting.

Oh, and I have very pale skin-no freckles at all.

Do=So
am=an

Be careful to not mention them to her too much-you don't want to give her a complex about them!

She's totally unaware of them. I would never draw attention to them or mention them to her. Most people don't notice until we are under a bright light. I guess there are options in time. It's just so upsetting.

Oh, I know, my middle son had a scar close to his hairline from a poorly-treated laceration and I used to wince every time I saw it. I felt so angry at myself for not preventing the fall that led to the cut and angry at the hospital for gluing it (it split open the next day). But as he has grown and gotten bigger, it is much less noticeable.

I can hardly remember, which is good news!

Cheek, forehead, between eyes. I was scarred everywhere. The fading rash seemed a much bigger problem: I already wore make up,and simply used heavier stuff for a while.

But the scars weren't a huge concern. They flattened out gradually. No one ever remarked on them, and you know what teenagers are like - unforgiving!

Dd had a case like the picture above when she'd just turned one. She has only two pit marks - one of the side of her nose and one next to her outer eye.

They are still there but are much less noticeable that they were even a couple of years ago - she's 5 now.

It's the indents that are the main issue. The redness has totally gone but some of her marks are very deep, even after almost a year. I feel guilty like its my fault but I tried to prevent it by cutting her nails, using poxillin, etc but the scabs fell of overnight mostly.

My son was a bubblewrap case like frusso's DC at the age of 7 or so. He had a lot of forehead marks. He is now over 20, and they have faded and become a lot less noticeable. It took a while.

This is ds2. His was pretty bad, he's in hospital in these pictures. It was around a year ago and he does have a fair few scars. The big scabby one jsut under his eyebrow is the worst one, it is a massive indent but I think it will continue to fade as he grows. Ds1 had the pox around 3 ish and he is 9 now, he wasn't as bad as ds2 and his marks are hardly there now.

My dd's case was very similar facially to your ds

I still have my scars from 30 years ago, you just get used to them.

DD has 4 quite obvious pock marks on her face, had CP when nearly 4, is 9 now. We call them her beauty spots. They are a little deeper than Frusso's DD but about the same size. One is just at the corner of her eye and is noticeable. They don't seem to have changed now for several years.

It's hard to see your beautiful child marked and I know they seem like the end of the world now, but honestly the pock holes fade and so many people have far worse acne scars.

I had chickenpox very badly as a teenager- I resembled a sheet of bubble wrap at one point and had them in places I didn't think were possible- I clearly remember I couldn't comb my hair or wear knickers for over a week at the worst point I thought I looked like a lizard. The scars on my face and body faded almost completely in time but I still wake up every morning looking as if someone has taken a pair of pinking shears to the edge of my tongue! It seems to soften out as the day goes on. I'm almost 50.

I was subjected to a "pox party" (wtf at people who do that to children ) at the age of six and had a terrible case. I still have visible, deep marks on my face, forearms and wrists at the age of 44.

dd had a v bad case and they don't go completely and it is awful at the time thinking what has happened but....as dcs get older its kind of irrelevant in a way.who has a perfect face/skin/body after all?

I'm 34 and still have a two or three.

On the upside: so does almost everyone I know, it doesn't really detract from anyone's appearance because it's so normal.

I brought all of mine to a 'pox party'. The alternative was risking them getting quite old without CP. It is worse in its effects the older the child.

For mums reading this who are now concerned about the possibility their little ones will be similarly affected there is a vaccine available, though not part of the ones routinely offered. The old fashioned "pox party", while effective at spreading the infection, leaves the possibility that your child may have an extreme case and be very ill. Not sure I could live with inflicting that on little ones. It can itch horribly and some children cannot resist scratching. Older children might listen to reason and try not to scratch but every blister popped leaves a little crater scar. It does become less obvious through time. Anti histamine relieves the itching and therefore reduces the risk of permanent scarring.

It makes me angry that this vaccine was never mentioned to me nor made available to my daughter. I didn't even know about it until it was too late!

If you don't qualify for it on the NHS You can have it done privately. Money well spent! Wish it had been available before my children caught it as teenagers.
There is a thread on Mumsnet where mums mention how much it costs.

Had it in my late teens. There were still one of two small scars 20 years later. Did some home acid peels and a long course of Liquid Gold last year for other reasons and one happy side effect has been the final disappearance of the remaining chicken pox scars.

*one or two

I had bad chickenpox as a child. And I am down to a single noticeable scar (perfectly placed for a Bindi) and another shallow one on my cheek which I don't think anyone but me would notice. According to my mother these are the ones I scratched.

I had CP 30 years ago. For many years I had 3 scars on my forehead but they have completely gone now. I'm left with one on the side of my face. So in my experience some fade some don't.