Fer Chrissake...

Questions:

1.) Is there anything that a little red pustule-type sore in the corner of the mouth could be, besides herpes?

2.) How the fuck does a 4-year-old who barely leaves the house get herpes?

Answers greatly appreciated.

1) Plenty of things

2) with difficulty

Most likely, the corner of his mouth is cracked because it is dry from the air conditioning or because he drools out that side of his mouth as he sleeps, and it has got infected/irritated. happened to me all the tme as a kid (drooling combined with dry skin) and young adult (dry air from AC). Chapstick is my friend now (summer and winter) and I've had no problems for 8 years or so. i pay special attention to the corners of my mouth.

Like what kind of "plenty of things?" I seriously know of nothing that looks like a cold sore except a cold sore...

Edit: It's not strictly in the crack, it's about a millimeter or two outside of the corner. I guess if he started with a small cut there then it could have become infected, though...

other examples of plenty of things:

lets take the "turned nasty/gost infected/minor allergy reaction" as read......

could just be a blocked pore (that has turned nasty)

could be a food reaction (how long has it been going -very occasionally, citrus can make my lips swell and it either starts in the right corner of my mouth or just to the right of center of my top lip. I don't know why, it just does. Sometimes it goes down again within the hour, and sometimes it turns into a zit-like thing that last a few days

could be a scrape (that turned nasty)

could be an insect bite

If it's a blocked pore, it's turned very nasty indeed. It's not a little head with a red fan around it, it's a big visible pus bubble with a tiny red edge around it. (I'd post a picture, but he's already gone to bed.) Definitely isn't a food thing, he's still eating the same 15-ish foods he's been eating for the last 4 months. If it's a bug bite or a cut, it happened overnight and was infected by morning, because the pus bubble was the first thing we saw.

Eh, whatever. Nothing I can do about it, regardless (except maybe not let him kiss me until it's healed... ew.)

Well you asked, I answered. Take pic and check with an MD. Herpes is thankfully something I've never had to deal with so i don't know exactly what it looks like or how the sores differ from other types of sore.

.....but like you said -how did he get it? Is it more likely that he caught herpes or that it's a reaction to something you didn't see or that hasn't been a problem before?

Clodfobble;676429 wrote:

it's a big visible pus bubble with a tiny red edge around it.

Sorry didn't read this properly before. this sounds totally like an infected blocked pore or similar. i.e. a zit. they're not unique to teeneagers. And yes, they can appear quickly. Are herpes sores really pus-filled? ew!

I've got an Asian medicine possible answer, but that would be too difficult to explain so I won't make an attempt. :p: But from your description, it sounds like an infected blocked pore or a bug bite. I've got a remedy for cold sores, drink vitamin B. Don't know why that helps heal cold sores, but it does.

Sounds lie a canker sore to me. A whole lotta nothing to worry about.

This stuck out to me on the web search ...

Canker sores can run in families. They may also be linked to problems with the body's immune (defense) system. The sores may occur after a mouth injury due to dental work, aggressive tooth cleaning, or biting the tongue or cheek.

Canker sores can be triggered by emotional stress, dietary deficiencies (especially iron, folic acid, or vitamin B-12), menstrual periods, hormonal changes, food allergies, and similar situations. They occur most commonly with viral infections. In some cases, the cause can not be identified.

I had them as a kid. haven't in many many years though. My brothers used to tease me that it was a spider crawling in my mouth and biting me while I was sleeping..
Scared the crap outta me.

Check out: medlineplus.gov search around.

This is what herpes looks like: http://www.skinsight.com/child/herpesSimplexVirusHSV.htm

It looks more like poison ivy (clear lymph filled blisters. Note plural)

Go here for a helpful search:
http://www.skinsight.com/skinConditionFinder.htm

classicman wrote:

Sounds lie a canker sore to me.

Interesting--my brother had chronic canker sores as a kid, but they were always on the inside. I didn't realize they could be on the outside.

Sorry if I came off as ungrateful, monster. On the whole I'm not worried about it, per se, I'm just ticked off at yet another stupid medical thing I can't do anything about. It's anyone's guess how long he's going to continue fussing about it and picking at it, and getting upset whenever he sees himself in the mirror looking like he's not supposed to look. (Well, not strictly anyone's guess. I'm quite sure the obsessions about it will stop as soon as we can manage to get our 3 positive strep cultures within a six-month period, which is, I'm told, the unassailable gold standard for having one's tonsils removed. I need school to start like you wouldn't believe.)

come on, school!

I hear you, sister.

good luck (actually, I mean this in a friendly way, but CF, you've always made so much of your own luck, I have zero doubt this will end well).

Gonna be fine. :)

Herpengina???... aka Hand Foot and mouth disease... it is very contagious and very common with toddlers.

Dr House is going to walk in on this thread any minute now.

Lupus?

I'll think of the proper name soon, but it sounds like what are commonly referred to as school sores here. Very contagious and they seem to appear from nowhere. If there have been other school aged or daycare kids around, it would be very possible for the little one to have picked it up.

I think the doctor would be a good place to go.

Impetigo. That's the proper name.