The Agony of Adolescence

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Sam is at the age now where his oil glands are starting to pump into overdrive and he is starting to get a few pimples. Nothing too bad. I got him some Clearasil face scrub and face cream and that seems to be handling everything. He has been very good about keeping his face clean.

Yesterday he told me he thought he was going to get a big zit on his chin. I told him to just keep washing it and using the cream and we would just have to ride it out. By the middle of the day though he said he could feel a firm ridge along the edge of his chin that was painful. Indeed, when I looked at him I could tell the outline of his face was swollen. I gave him some Aleve for the pain and we used warm compresses with gentle massage to help loosen things up a bit but Sam said that made it hurt more. So then we went with ice packs to help reduce swelling which he said was worse. So back to the warm compresses.

Normally I wouldn’t have done much more than that, but this morning Sammy woke up with the entire right side of his jaw swollen including his lip. His enunciation reminds me of John Hurt’s portrayal in the Elephant Man. He said that it does not hurt to swallow and he can still breathe, but his painful face woke him up at 2 o’clock a.m. and again at 4 and 6. And now he tells me that the firmness is moving to the other side.

Is this acne? or is the acne just a coincidence of something else going on? Sam did get stung by a bee at the cross country meet on Sunday, but the area of the sting isn’t red or swollen and looks completely normal.

The worry wort in me is taking Sam to the doctor this morning before this gets any worse. Here’s a pic but trust me when I say this doesn’t do it justice. His jaw line right now resembles Dudley Dooright – very sore and swollen.

 
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9 Comments

  1. I would take him to the doctor today.

    Where I live, staph infections are on the rise. Two of my husband’s high school athletes have gotten boils (gross) that had to be lanced and treated with antibiotics. Fortunately, theirs were not resistant strains.

    I don’t know that your son’s swelling resembles a staph infection, but I wouldn’t dismiss it as a pimple, either…especially if there’s any sign of fever with it.

  2. Yea, we just got back and he is on a prescription for Bactrim DS. Hopefully that will clear it up. Doc did take a culture just in case. I sure hope this helps. He’s in a moderate amount of pain!

  3. It looks like a boil to me. Poor kid!

  4. Oh, that poor kid! I hope he is feeling better really soon!

  5. Smart to take him to the doctor Elena. BTW, for plain old pimples, my mom would give my brothers Lecithin. Cleared them up.

  6. Wow! The poor thing! His is an exceptional case and I second the commenters on the staph infection. In the D.C. area, they are having big problems.
    For pimples that would drive me nuts, I would put a hot compress on them. Also toothpaste (not the gel) on the spot overnight would work miracles as well.
    Also, in a cute Catholic malapropism, it’s enunciation. I’m pretty sure that Sam isn’t carrying the next Messiah. Though wouldn’t that be a twist?! 😉

  7. The poor kid. I had painful cystic acne for years, although this could be something entirely different. It’s good to use a gentle cleanser, and only twice a day. Harsh cleansers strip the skin of essential oils, causing the skin to produce even more oil, and make acne even worse. http://acne.org/ has the best advice on the web.

  8. How’s he feeling today, Elena?

  9. Thanks for the advice and good wishes ladies.

    Sam still feels awful. His lower lip is totally swollen although I think the swelling has gone down on his cheek. He did not sleep well last night at all and I am giving him a pass on doing school, although I got some movies from the library (History channel and PBS)that I thought he might enjoy and they are on the period of time we are studying right now.

    I almost took him in to the ER last night. My BIL who is an internist said that is what he would do. THe pediatric hot line said to wait. Sam wanted to wait so we waited. The doctor says it might take 48 hours for the antibiotic to really make a noticeable difference.

    On the positive side, it is draining more and I think that will help him feel better.

    I’ve never had anything like this before. I’m sorry Sam has to go through it!

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