Logo

Impetigo - Pharmacy First

Pharmacy First allows patients to access FREE advice and / or treatment for Impetigo for any patient over the age of 2.

Sharoe Green Pharmacy
In person

Sharoe Green Pharmacy

4.4
Change ›

272 Sharoe Green Lane, Fulwood, Preston, PR2 9HD

Opens tomorrow 9:00am15 min appointment

Impetigo is a skin infection that's very contagious but not usually serious. Anyone can get it, but it's more common in young children. With treatment, impetigo often gets better in a few days.

Symptoms of impetigo

Impetigo starts with red sores or blisters, but the redness may be harder to see on brown and black skin.

The sores or blisters quickly burst and often leave crusty, golden-brown patches.

The patches can:

  • look a bit like cornflakes stuck to your skin

  • get bigger and spread to other parts of your body

  • be itchy and are sometimes painful

The lower half of a child's face with red and yellow weepy impetigo sores on their nose and around their mouth. Shown on white skin.

The sores and blisters of impetigo commonly affect the face (around the nose and mouth) and hands.

3 patches of crusty, light-brown skin on a person’s chin from impetigo. They have a large, crusty patch underneath their lower lip. Shown on white skin.

After the blisters burst, you often have golden-brown crusty patches on your skin.

Impetigo on the chin. There are 2 patches that have dark brown scabs in the middle surrounded by lighter areas of weeping skin. Shown on medium brown skin.

Sometimes yellow liquid oozes from the blisters and hardens to leave a scaly border around a scab. This is called bullous impetigo.

See a pharmacist if:

  • you have symptoms of impetigo

  • your child is aged 12 months or over and has symptoms of impetigo

A pharmacist can give the same medicines as a GP to treat impetigo. They can also give advice or direct you to to other medical help if you need it.