Home Remedies for Impetigo

I've never had impetigo before and I didn't know what it was. Initially I mistook it for a cold sore and treated it with cold sore treatments and antiviral pills, however, I did notice it was behaving differently to a cold sore and I was slightly puzzled.

Then one day, boom, the rash and blisters spread like wildfire across my whole chin, around my mouth, on my lips and cheeks. It was scary and incredibly painful, and the chills and fevers meant I couldn't sleep at night either, so I was exhausted too.

I was prescribed antibiotics by my doctor and on the 4th day of taking them my chin dried up BUT the rash continued to spread at a good pace up my face and on to my forehead. Most of my face was either covered in oozing blisters, heavy crust or burning like crazy. I couldn't open my mouth much either so it was very difficult to eat too. Straws and teaspoons became my best friends as I used them to eat and drink with.

Because the rash continued to spread I knew the antibiotics weren't fully working so basically I prayed for a miracle. That's when I stumbled on this webpage and the GSE comments really struck a chord with me. That day I went to a health food shop and luckily for me they sold the GSE pills (tub of 100 pills) and liquid so I bought both, along with a huge bottle of Aloe Vera Juice.

As soon as I started taking the GSE pills (2 pills, 3 times a day), that same evening really, I noticed the rash had stopped spreading. 2 or 3 times a day I gently patted my whole face with a mix of Aloe Vera Juice with drops of the GSE liquid, as I'd read on here that using the GSE liquid undiluted really burns, and I didn't want that. The Aloe Vera Juice really was great at cooling my face which was just so hot, burning and itchy. This is compared to say tea tree oil which I tried patting on my face at the beginning of my ordeal but it really did nothing for me.

During the next 5 days after I'd started taking the GSE pills and using the aloe and GSE liquid mix, the thick crusts dried and started falling off my face, and on the 6th day my face was completely clear of crusts! My face was really raw afterwards though, and I have some post inflammation hyperpigmentation (where the skin darkens from the inflammation) but this can be covered in makeup and will fade in good time.

I also used vitamin E oil after the crusts fell off to soften my skin again because it was really dry and flaky, despite drinking lots of water. I did finish my course of antibiotics too just in case. It also took a few days for the itchiness to completely disappear. During this time I made sure not to scratch anything and washed my hands if I touched my face.

Basically GSE worked wonders for me and I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who posted their stories here, as they really helped me and gave me hope. So I thought I'd post my story in the hope that it will also help someone else who is suffering.

If you can, please buy GSE pills and liquid as soon as possible. I will always have these pills with me now I know what impetigo is and how awful it can be. The infection is hugely challenging and my heart goes out to those reading this who have it, but thankfully it's a superficial infection and only effects the epidermis (outer skin layer) so it will heal fine. Good luck to all of you, and thanks again to the previous posters, I appreciate you sharing your stories! JJ

After a few days they'd calm down, but then new ones popped up. Couldn't figure out why fleas would go after me and no one else in the family, so next conclusion was an allergy to sunscreen. Spots seemed to pop out shortly after being outside in the sun and sweating. Seemed to last longer than at first. Still just mainly on my truck of my body. No face, arms or lower legs.

Then I made the mistake of shaving and trimming up my bikini area. Appearently this spread the impetigo to a very unpleasant region! Again, I had figured it was a simple allergy, nothing spreadable. When it spread down there, it got BAD. Large, blistering, itchy oozing sores that spread VERY quickly. I began to wonder if my husband had cheated on me and somehow given me herpes! But he didn't have any lesions, and only got 3 after intercourse with me (just before the spots popped out everywhere in my lower regions. No doubt this caused it to spread). After running through an entire list of possible STD's, rashes and ailments, I finally found info on impetigo.

By this time it had spread so badly in my "under region" that I could not even pee. Everything was badly swollen and infected. It looked and felt like %%%%! I was in AGONY! Tried cranberry juice to help, drank an entire jug in one day with NO relief!

Before finding this site, here's what I tried on my "bad" spots: hydrocortisone cream -didn't work.

• over the counter menthol and spray anti-itch ointments -- burned VERY badly but numbed the area (didn't cure it)
• Iveyrest Poison Ivy Cream: worked on the not so bad spots, kept it under control and dried lesions, but didn't keep new spots from developing, and hard to keep it dry "down there".
• Triple Anti-Biotic Cream: didn't work.

****Remedies tried from this site and others I tried:

• Vinegar: works well. Saturated a paper towel and held it on my bad spot areas. Burned slightly but vinegar is a natural bacteria killer. Seemed to help keep them from spreading when done twice a day (change underwear too! )
• BATH: added epsom salt (about 1-2 cups) into warm bath with tea tree oil and crushed garlic cloves. Very soothing and a good way to wash gently.
• Hydrogen Peroxide: used as an antiseptic similar to vinegar. Burned less than vinegar, worked to dry spots out after shower/bath. May dry too much and cause scarring though...
• TUMERIC (PILLS): Tumeric added to food at the rate of 1 tsp is harsh to eat. Tumeric pills are MUCH better! Take 3 pills 3 times a day. TUMERIC DID HELP!!! After 24 hrs on it I could pee with NO pain, and the swelling had gone down a lot. However the spots were still spreading and VERY itcy after 4 days of pills (took me FOREVER to locate Grapefruit Seed Extract)
• GRAPEFRUIT SEED EXTRACT: BEST REMEDY! After just 12 hrs on the pills 3 times a day, I notced the spots fading away, and not so much itch. Spots stopped spreading and seem to be finally gone after 1 week of pills!
• OLIVE OIL/GARLIC: For my itchy spots I poured 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil into a small dish and mashed a garlic clove and added it to oil. Used fork to mash it into oil more and release juices. Let sit 1 hr then apply with q-tip or cotton ball to spots. STOPS ITCH, STOPS SPREAD. This was a VERY SOOTHING treatment on my under-regions and despite the oil you didn't notice fealing greasy. Only soothed. Olive oil has healing properties and garlic is a natural sulphuric antibiotic.

BOTTOM LINE: Keep the olive oil/garlic always ready in the bathroom. When a spot pops up apply the mix to it and it will calm down and not spread.

Thank you thank you thank you for this site and ALL the helpful remedies!

I googled ' impetigo remedies ' and it brought me here. Went to Walgreens and bought a $10 GSE bottle that came with 100 pills.

AND AM I HAPPY!!!! The scars are fading, the swelling has gone down, and my skin looks like its clearing up. Its been day #2 of taking 3 pills, twice a day morning and night. Waking up on my 3rd day, and the impetigo is dry and feels like its healing really well.

thank you for this suggestion.

btw, the garlic and olive oil did not work for me. but GSE is amazing.

Friday, Feb. 25, 2011 - My 7yr old daughter gets sent home from school with a rash on her body. Her pediatrician was experienced enough to swab for streptococcus aureus even though she didn't have a sore throat.

Weekend - I have sex with my wife before any of us knew anything about the strep. Not saying this was the catalyst, but man I wish I had put 2 and 2 together beforehand.

Monday Feb 28 - I have spots all over my face. Nasty rash, but no sore throat. We're thinking scarlet fever. My daughter's culture comes back positive for strep. Pediatrician puts us all on Cefprozil, a Keflex-type antibiotic.

Day by day, I just got worse and worse. The impetigo raged on without pause. The cefprozil did nothing. Bacitracin did nothing. There was massive swelling and weeping yellow crusty stuff. Almost on a weekly timetable it would clear up to a large degree, not completely, but then it would come right back, and spread more. Up toward my temples, down under my chin, etc. Later I read that bacitracin (Neosporin) is useless ? it can't fight this kind of infection and it just helps to spread it around. St. Patrick's Day I was out at a bar and no one looked twice at me. By Sunday I looked so bad I didn't even go to church. Every time I thought I had seen the worst of it and was clearing up, it came back. (My little girl is fine, BTW, neither she nor my wife had to deal with this hell.)

By Monday, March 14th I realized it was coming back just as often as it was healing. I tried H202 mixed 50/50 with water about 2 or 3 times, misting my face after a hot shower with a spray bottle. This is hell on your skin, let me tell you, and it really burns for about a minute. It made me as red as a tomato, literally. But I could feel the peroxide working on the infection. Even so, it cleared up a bit, then came back.

I got a Rx for topical Mupirocin cream and a Rx for a broad spectrum antibiotic about the middle of the week. Since I had been thru a course of Cefprozil, and it did no good, I was very reluctant to take the broad spectrum. I did not take it, even though after it kept flaring up my wife urged me to take the systemic pill.

The Mupirocin topical stuff is strong, and it made me red and swollen, not as painful to apply as the peroxide but I looked like hell. As you can imagine, this was totallly affecting my job, as it is difficult to work like that, seeing customers, etc.

Even with the mupirocin, the impetigo kept coming back.

By March 21st I had seen 2 different doctors and 2 dermatologists. I was diagnosed 100% positive for impetigo and the one doctor here in PA told me she has seen a lot of it recently. But none of them could get a culture to grow. It was just my luck that every time I was in a doctor's office, there was no discharge and I was "better".

Two dermatologists told me STOP USING PEROXIDE, and the one guy said to keep using the mupirocin 5 days after that appointment. I was pretty clear for that appointment (for the 4th or 5th??time!! ) but I couldn't keep up the mupirocin. I had to give it a rest because it was hell on my skin.

I read some very helpful posts on the internet, and started using a neutral face cream (I happened to have Vanicream) mixed with 4 ? 6 drops of grapefruit seed extract. It doesn't provoke swelling as much as mupirocin, and after 2 days of GSE both topical and using as a pill, the heat and swelling went down (again). Problem with the GSE and Vanicream is it's ITCHY LIKE YOU CAN'T BELIEVE!!!!! One of the posts here says "Don't touch it" and I can't agree more. Light rubbing of my face brought ANOTHER relapse, even with clean hands. I wash them a lot now that I'm dealing with this horror. Just let it crust over, and touch your face only when you wash it. And know that when you wash your face, it will probably make it start weeping again. I washed my face 3-4 times a day.

Grapefruit Seed Extract with the Vanicream was very hard because it made me want to itch and rub. I tried Aveeno mixed with GSE and it was better, not as itchy.

March 28th, more or less, I believe I started to really heal. My skin was starting to split, with deep red creases by my chin. That's how hard mupirocin, and this disease, is on your skin. I missed about 3 days of work during this whole thing, and that doesn't count the times I had to leave early or come in late after seeing doctors. I also read a PH web page that talked about being alkaline, rather than acid, and how it affects your health, and so I started eating more fruits and veggies (I am mostly vegetarian anyway) and started with a one-a-day potassium/calcium/magnesium supplement. I tested my saliva, I was ph of 7 at that time.

I found pure aloe, already mixed with GSE in a health store. It's very runny in its pure form. Every day I used the aloe w/GSE, plus pure GSE, mixed together, and put on after my morning shower, and in the evening after I washed my face.

So here I am now, April 15, almost seven weeks after my first symptoms. I can detect a slight puffiness at the height of my cheekbones, but you would never notice it. Still a bit red there too, but once again, you can't see it except under very bright light, like a flash photo. I got a week of FL sun, wearing a wide brim hat the WHOLE time, but too afraid to put anything on my face except the aloe and GSE, every day, twice a day. I can rub my face lightly if I have an itch, and it's not there anymore. Not that I will try and provoke it, no way. I am VERY GLAD I made the decision to not take the broad spectrum anti-biotic, but that was my decision and I'm not saying it's right for you. I wanted my own defenses to fight this off, because I have this tendency toward this kind of stuff.

Here's the other complication I didn't even mention ? when I was a kid I got poison ivy real bad on my hands and arms. For decades after that, I could scratch my wrists and forearms, seemingly at will, and "bring it back". I read over and over in all the sci and med literature that poison ivy is urushiol, totally topical, and cannot live in your system. I thought I was a living contradiction to this ? rubbing would bring about swelling on my forearms, a pimply, rough raised rash, weeping yellow stuff ? poison ivy, right? WRONG! I guess that was the strep/staph virus living on my skin, and once in awhile taking hold. Well, on my forearms it was a nuisance, and a curiosity. But on my face, it's a total nightmare.

Still another possibly relevant factoid ? for a year, more or less, before this spring 2011 battle with impetigo on my face, I would come out of the shower, sometimes, and notice a single, bright red streak on my cheek. Usually just one side, not always in the same place. Always after using a washcloth that was kept in the shower and not a fresh one. Almost as if I had scraped my cheek along a rough wall in one spot. I believe this nastiness has been trying to break thru on my face for a long time, and either the strep that was in my family, or the up close and personal encounter with my wife brought it on full force. I am going on and on just to give you as much info as I possibly can. This is a serious infection that just DOES NOT want to go away, and I don't think there are that many doctors out there who really understand it. It took a LONG TIME to run its course with me, and I had it in the worst possible place. If you see this coming, my advice to you is use the GSE and a neutral skin moisturizer right away, take the GSE pills, and DON'T RUB it. It's gross, but let it crust. Wash it off, let it crust again. For weeks I was carrying a rag with me to dab my weeping face. Uhhh, so gross. And you have to keep yourself and all those things your skin touches away from everybody else. (Although I don't think it's as contagious after weeks and weeks as people think. Still, you think I'm gonna take a chance with my family?! ???)

So every time I have an itch on my cheek or jaw, I scratch it lightly and stop. I'm still very scared of this nonsense and it will be awhile until the terror fades.

I'm a 44 year old woman. My first encounter with Impetigo was 8 or 9 years ago - it appeared on my legs and it seemed the epicenter of each patch was a tiny wound or injury. I didn't know what it was so I did some research and concluded incorrectly that it was a variety of Psoriasis. For some reason, my online searches didn't come up with Impetigo. Like everyone else, I tried everything I could think of to relieve the horrible itching and eventually noticed that flushing the patches with hot water with a hand-held showerhead offered a numbing effect lasted from several hours to a whole day. Also, it was obvious that the more I scratched, the larger the patches became so I learned to leave the areas alone and to bandage them so my clothes wouldn't aggravate the situation. After a week or two, with regular hot water flushing and just not spreading the patches, the skin healed.

Now for my second encounter with Impetigo. It started a week ago, again in response to a tiny injury. I researched it again and Impetigo jumped right out. Knew I had the right diagnosis this time. The various sites containing information clarified the sequence of events from a few years ago. I learned that the blister fluid is infectious, for example. I also learned that Impetigo is caused by bacteria and that I wasn't dealing with contact dermatitis or anything like that. The hot water flushing offered relief just like before but this time, I added a twist. I reasoned that if hot water helped, perhaps hot air would too. So after I shower, I use a hair dryer on the patches, as hot as I can stand it. Then, I bandage the areas as before.

I'm thrilled to report that the hair dryer has worked wonders. The patches are healing much more quickly. My theory as to why it works is that the heat kills the bacteria. After all, your body elevates its temperature to fight infection so it makes sense to me that topical heat might kill bacteria on or in the skin. The heat from the hair dryer has the same numbing effect so that the patches don't itch for at least half a day.

Tip: be very careful with the hot water and the hot hair. Hold it on the patches only until you just begin to feel a tiny bit burned. Any longer than that, and you will actually be burned. I flick the shower head and the hair dryer back and forth over the patches for a few moments to make sure they are fully heated.

Tip: be very careful as you dry off after a shower. Don't let the towel touch the infected areas. I dab those with a bit of toilet paper which I then flush. It might be easier to dry your body with a small towel which is more controllable than a large floppy bath towel.

As other posters have noted, it seems lotions and ointments only aggravate the skin and don't actually relieve any of the itching and pain. I just cover the areas securely and employ the heat treatment as necessary.

I am a 25 yo female, with a history of eczema and acne. I have gotten impetigo probably 4 times in my life, starting at 11 or 12 years old after exposure to a sibling who had it. Since then, I have gotten it at very random times, with no exposure or known source. I believe it happens when I have a break in my skin, such as from acne. My impetigo has reoccurred in the same spot right below my lip every single time. I have the mupirocin ointment prescribed and started using that the day that I felt the blisters forming. I also cleansed with acv. I started taking zinc, grapefruit seed extract, and echinacea. On the fourth day, I used a tattoo salve on it overnight mixed with the antibiotic ointment and jojoba oil, with gauze on to keep it moist. I woke up to it being 10x better, the skin is almost completely healed underneath!!!!! The most improvement overnight I have yet to see with this condition. I am going to keep it globbed on top of it until it is completely healed.

The salve I used contains coconut oil, beeswax, palm oil, cupuacu butter, calendula extract, chamomille extract, lavender oil, vitamin e, peru balsam oil. I 10000% recommend purchasing this if you have frequent outbreaks and applying it in combination with the antibiotic ointment. I wish I started using it sooner.