Urgent advice needed please

[Elevenfourteen]

Hi, my son has what looks like an insect bite on his arm. The area around it is very painful and has become quite red and swollen. I called NHS111 and they said it would be fine to wait til morning. She obviously hasn’t seen his arm. The nearest late night pharmacy is 38 miles away. Should I just do as I’m told and wait until morning or nip him up to A&E?

Do you have a picture?

Also, how old is DS

Have you given antihistamines yet?

Is your child feeling unwell himself or is he feeling normal?

have you tried anthisan or any other antihistamine?

Ingrowing hair?

A & E. You’re obviously worried, you know what’s going on and you can see his arm. Trust your instincts.

This is it. You can’t really see that it’s swollen on the picture. I don’t have any antihistamines in and the shops and pharmacies nearby are closed now.

Is the redness spreading, have you marked it?

He’s 13 and feels fine, other than a sore arm.

No, I wouldn't go to A&E for that. I'd go to a pharmacy and ask what they think it is and then what they recommend to treat it with if anything.

It’s redder than it was at teatime for sure.

Docs would always rather see you and send you away not being needed, rather than be needed and not be seen.
Do you have clinical assessment unit attached to your local ED?

Definitely draw round it. Any lines/tracking that appear and take to a and e. Ds had one like this and it started tracking. A and e said we had done the right thing taking him in.

Where has he been and what did he think it was?

I would pop a hot compress on, see if it makes it pop/ooze, then leave well alone, take to pharmacy or urgent care if you have one first thing. Does look a little red, could be a blocked infected pore.

The out of ours GP is going to ring me sometime in the next 12 hours. Thanks for the replies. I’ve told my son if he starts to feel unwell then he needs to wake me up.

I would draw round it, round the redness, to see if that increases.

He could need antibiotics, I think the only way I'd go to AE tonight would be if I knew it was a foreign body.

You need to draw round it so you can track any spread.

How is he this morning @Elevenfourteen?

It’s a bit redder, but not massively. The out of hours GP has prescribed him some antibiotics.

Hope it settles soon and he feels better!