Blistering Impetigo: Recognition, Care, and Treatment

Do not pop, scratch, or share items that touch the affected skin. A clinician can confirm whether the eruption is impetigo and decide whether an antibiotic applied to the skin or taken by mouth is appropriate.

Bullous impetigo presents with soft, fluid-filled blisters that enlarge and rupture, leaving a moist surface and a thin rim of skin. Another pattern begins as small sores that break and develop characteristic golden or honey-coloured crusts. Either pattern can spread to nearby skin through touching and scratching.

Impetigo is a bacterial infection of the outer skin. Broken skin from scratching, insect bites, shaving, or eczema can provide an entry point. A blister alone cannot identify the cause; contact reactions, viral eruptions, burns, and other infections can resemble it.

Gently wash the affected skin, pat it dry with a clean towel, and cover weeping areas with a light dressing when practical. Wash hands after skin care, keep fingernails short, and avoid sharing towels, razors, clothing, bedding, cosmetics, or sports equipment.

Use an antibiotic only as prescribed for the person and this episode. Follow the dose, application area, and course instructions even if the skin begins to look better. Do not use leftover treatment or another person's medicine, because the diagnosis and suitable route may differ.

Obtain prompt assessment when blisters are widespread, spreading quickly, painful, or accompanied by fever, lethargy, increasing redness, swelling, warmth, or pus. Infants, people with reduced immunity, and anyone with extensive eczema or another damaged skin barrier should be reviewed early.

Seek urgent care for rapidly worsening illness, severe pain, redness racing away from the sores, swelling around the eyes, breathing difficulty, or reduced responsiveness. If prescribed treatment is not producing the improvement the clinician described, return for reassessment rather than changing medicines yourself.

Ask how the diagnosis was distinguished from other blistering conditions, how to clean and cover the sores, and what improvement should look like. Confirm when school, nursery, work, close-contact sport, and shared facilities can safely resume under local guidance, as well as what to do if another household member develops sores.