chicken pox immunisation

[margobambino]

Has anybody here vaccinated their children against chickenpox? I am thinking about it because I feel that my DS has a tendency for scarring. So I don't want him to get chickenpox if possible. Is there any adverse effect of this vaccine, do they have mild chickenpox or something avter the immunisation?

[margobambino]

Littlefrog,
Do you put anything on the white hypopigmentations when you have them? Any cream, etc?

[littlefrog]

No, nothing. I can't be sure it's the same thing (never occured to me to take it to a dr!) but say I scratch myself on a bramble or get some other minor graze, it heals fine, but often leaves the mark of the cuts showing white on my skin (particularly obvious in the summer!) But it's always gone by the next year - just fades away.
I'm with seeker on this - I'd think hard about vaccinating just to avoid the small possibility of scars that will in any case almost certainly fade away (I can't find my own cp scars now, though I could when I was a child!)

[AnnasBananas]

I believe there is a test you can get which would show chicken pox immunity. My friend had this test when she was pregnant and came into contact with a child with chicken pox as she'd never had the virus as a child. It's these sort of situations they would recommend a test like this.

Are you really so concerned about chicken pox scarring? What about the years ahead of childhood bumps, scrapes, skinned knees and general accidents which will invariably happen which will all leave marks/scars on your child and that are unavoidable?

If you are weighing up having the vaccination I would do your research.

[margobambino]

Thanks AnnaBananas. You are right, there will be unavidable scars probably due to accidents. But what's wrong with trying to prevent avoidable ones or reduce the risk if there is a possibility.

[vesela]

I decided to give it to my DD - she had it together with her MMR in GlaxoSmithKline's tetra vaccine. I couldn't tell you how to go about getting it in the UK, though, because we live in the Czech Republic (where it's optional, but you get it through your usual doctor).

[Cloudspotter]

Seeker, although I respect your views, I don't understand your reluctance to get the vaccine. Medical science has made some incredible advances against diseases, most of which involve introducing an 'unnatural' substance into the body (antibiotics? Paracetemol?).

I think it is quite unusual to be so suspicious of any medical intervention. I don't mean to criticise because you are completely entitled to feel that way. I just think that if you look at the bigger picture of society as a whole, it seems to me that medical technology is overwhelmingly a positive thing rather than negative.

And yes, I would get this vaccine. In fact I wish I had, and didn't realise there was one available privately. DD2 now has the illness, and is in agony. Although it isn't life threatening in many cases, it is extremely unpleasant for the child.

Why anyone would choose to go through it when it can be avoided is a mystery to me. Dd1 had it when she was 8 months old. She had the 'mother' spot (as someone brilliantly described it) on the bridge of her nose. It took a long long time to heal and she was left with an awful scar. Because she was only 8mo at the time, it has grown with her and is now huge. I wish to God she hadn't got it. It's not the end of the world, but I do feel sad about it at times.