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What are the Signs of Chickenpox in Children?
Some of the first signs of chickenpox in children actually show up a few days before obvious symptoms develop. Two or three days before the children actually get bumps, they can develop some flu-like symptoms, including fever, headache, fatigue, and nausea. After that, the next signs of chickenpox in children are the blisters. These will typically show up on the head and face area first and eventually spread everywhere on the child's body, although it isn’t unheard of for them to show up on the torso first.
When the blisters first appear, they will be incredibly itchy, and children have a hard time resisting the urge to scratch them. As time passes, the itching will ease off, and the sores will eventually burst. After that, the sores gradually scab over and heal. It’s very unusual for the sores to leave behind scars, but it’s not unheard of, and some parents choose to clip their children’s nails very short when they show signs of chickenpox as a precaution.
Most of the time when dealing with chickenpox in children, doctors don’t choose to do any major treatment. There is usually an attempt to keep the children relatively comfortable with lotions and special baths, but since chickenpox comes from a viral infection, the illness generally has to run its course and go away on its own. There are some antiviral medications that can be used as a treatment for chickenpox in children, but doctors avoid using them because they have limited effectiveness, and there are some nasty potential side-effects.
Chickenpox in children is actually a better scenario typically than chickenpox in adults. With children, chicken pox is rarely ever serious, but in adults, severe complications are much more likely. When adults get chickenpox, they often develop shingles, which is much more serious and can lead to permanent nerve damage, among other things. If a woman contracts chickenpox during a pregnancy, she should generally be very cautious, because she has a greater risk of complications, and birth defects are also likely.
In a normal scenario, chickenpox in children only lasts about a week. In most cases, the symptoms don’t actually show up for almost 20 days after the initial exposure, and children are usually contagious a few days before the actual blisters show up. Chickenpox tends to be a very contagious illness, and it will normally spread like wildfire among siblings and schoolmates until every possible person has been exposed. Children who’ve been vaccinated have a great advantage in these situations, but the vaccine isn’t foolproof, and many vaccinated children will develop symptoms at least to a mild degree.
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![A boy with chickenpox.]()
By: Dan RaceA boy with chickenpox. -
![A girl with chickenpox.]()
By: Arpad Nagy-BagolyA girl with chickenpox. -
![Blisters will first appear on the head and face of a child with chickenpox before spreading to the rest of the body.]()
By: PhotoziBlisters will first appear on the head and face of a child with chickenpox before spreading to the rest of the body. -
![Children with chicken pox will develop flu-like symptoms a few days before getting chicken pox blisters.]()
By: Zsolt BiczóChildren with chicken pox will develop flu-like symptoms a few days before getting chicken pox blisters.
Discussion Comments
@Iluviaporos - Hopefully it will become less and less of a problem as more people get their children vaccinated against it. I wish that the whole thing anti-vaccinations movement hadn't been invented, as it just slows down the whole process and puts a lot of people in danger.
It's probably particularly easy for parents to say they won't get their kids vaccinated against this because chickenpox in children isn't usually serious anyway. But it means risking exposure for adults who have never contracted it, so it's still a bad idea.
@umbra21 - It might not have been chickenpox symptoms the other times. It's not impossible for people to have it more than once, but there are other diseases you can have as a child that might seem like chickenpox as well.
I remember my mother was fairly relieved when we got it all at once, because she wanted it to be over and done with and didn't want us to get it as adults. But my father had never had them, so she basically sent him away for a couple of weeks so he wouldn't catch it from us.
I was more miserable about that than about being sick. It just seemed like one big punishment to me, but I guess that's what you've got to do.
I somehow managed to get chickenpox several times when I was a kid, even though you're only supposed to get it once. I seemed to get it once normally and then got it in strange places the next time, like on my scalp and inside my mouth.
I can still remember being fascinated with the bumps and very sneaky about finding ways to scratch them, which is probably why, even 20 years later, I still have several scars.
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