hand foot and mouth or chickenpox?

[georgiegirl15]

Help! took my ds who is 15months to docs who said he was unable to make a diagnosis but it looked suspiciously like chicken pox, then 5 hours later her thought it might be hand foot and mouth. How do I know? What do I do? DS eating loads, up on his feet, drinking lots a little grumpy but is also teething. He has a rash on his feet, bottom, hands and its started to go up his legs. They look like little blisters filled with water but none of them have scabbed over yet. Help! I'm worried everyone is going to think my ds is dirty.

DS1 has had both and the hand foot and mouth didn't really look like blisters filled with water.
Sounds like the pox to me.

Chicken pox more typically starts on the torso or on the face and spreads everywhere, while HF&M more typically starts on hands, feet, mouth, buttocks or genitals and tends not to spread beyond those (although I've just seen online that toddlers may also get them on knees and elbows).

So the location of your DS's rash suggests HF&M to me. The spots do normally look very similar, but HF&M spots are generally a bit smaller (not much use if you don't have any chickenpox spots to compare with).

Ds1 had HF&M when he was younger and ds2 has chicken pox at the moment and judging by your description,I'd say it sounds more like chicken pox.Ds2 is completely fine in himself,eating and drinking normally but has lots of small water filled blisters,which started at the back of his neck(in a cluster) and now has about 60 spots over his body.The 1st spot only appeared yesterday morning,but one of them has crusted already,so I'm hoping he's only got it very mildly.Hope your ds gets better soon.

The HF&M rash looks more like bumps than water-filled blisters IME.

HI thanks. Hope your DC are better soon too x I'm taking him back to docs tomorrow but they are looking more chicken pox like today.

How did you get on at the doctor's today?