Usually mild in children. Two things matter: avoid ibuprofen, and know who around you is at real risk.
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Chickenpox is a common viral infection caused by the varicella zoster virus. It produces an intensely itchy rash of small blisters that appear in waves, alongside fever and a period of feeling generally unwell.
In an otherwise healthy child it is usually a mild, self-limiting illness lasting about a week, and treatment is mostly about comfort rather than cure.
Two things about it deserve more attention than they usually get. The first is that ibuprofen should be avoided in chickenpox, because of an association with severe skin and soft tissue infection — paracetamol is the painkiller to use. The second is that chickenpox is considerably more serious in adults, in pregnancy, in newborns and in anyone immunosuppressed, so knowing who your child has been near matters.
The virus stays dormant in nerve tissue afterwards and can reactivate decades later as shingles.
The redness is much harder to see, and chickenpox is more often missed or diagnosed late. Look for the raised bumps and blisters by feel as much as by colour, and check the palms, soles and inside the mouth.
From about two days before the rash appears until every blister has crusted over, usually around five days after the first spots.
Chickenpox is a clinical diagnosis, and the giveaway is spots at several different stages at once — flat marks, raised bumps, blisters and scabs together on the same patch of skin. Most rashes progress uniformly; chickenpox does not.
No test is needed in a typical case.
A rash that does not fade when pressed with a glass is not chickenpox and needs emergency assessment. Chickenpox spots blanch; a meningococcal rash does not.
Chickenpox assesses well remotely with good photographs — see our guide to photographing a skin problem. The mixed pattern of spots at different stages is usually clear on a picture.
A chickenpox rash in a newborn, in pregnancy, or in anyone immunosuppressed needs same-day assessment, not a routine appointment. So does any child who is significantly unwell.
Call 999 or go to A&E if:
Seek same-day medical advice if:
Use paracetamol. Avoid ibuprofen and other anti-inflammatories in chickenpox.
There is a recognised association between NSAID use in chickenpox and severe bacterial skin and soft tissue infection. The evidence is not conclusive, but the potential harm is serious and the alternative is easy — so UK advice is to avoid them.
This is one of the most useful things on this page, and it is not widely known.
Mouth blisters make eating painful. Cool, soft, bland food — ice lollies, yoghurt, soup — and plenty to drink. Avoid salty or acidic things, which sting.
A few days of eating little is not a problem. Not drinking is.
Stay off school, nursery or work until every blister has crusted over, usually about five days after the rash starts.
Actively avoid pregnant women, newborn babies and anyone immunosuppressed, and tell anyone in those groups whom you may already have exposed. That call is the single most useful thing you can do for someone else.
A chickenpox vaccine exists, is effective, and is available privately in the UK. It is also given on the NHS to specific groups at higher risk and their close contacts, and the JCVI has recommended adding it to the routine childhood programme. Worth asking about if it is relevant to your family.
If you are pregnant and have been exposed, contact your midwife or GP the same day. That is a free, urgent NHS pathway and it should not wait for a private appointment.
This page follows NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries on chickenpox, alongside UKHSA guidance on varicella in pregnancy and in immunosuppressed patients.
Varicella vaccine is offered on the NHS to specific at-risk groups and their close contacts, and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has recommended its introduction into the routine childhood immunisation schedule. It is available privately.
Reviewed against NICE CKS and UKHSA guidance current at the date shown above.
No — use paracetamol instead. Anti-inflammatories are associated with severe bacterial skin infection in chickenpox.
This is the most important practical point on the page, and a great many parents have not been told it.
From about two days before the rash until every blister has crusted — usually around five days after the spots start.
Scabs themselves are not infectious.
Once all the blisters have crusted over, not once the fever has gone.
There is no fixed number of days — it is the state of the spots that matters.
Contact your midwife or GP the same day. Do not wait.
Most adults are immune even without remembering having it, and a blood test settles it quickly. Where you are not immune, there is treatment that reduces the risk.
Usually only where spots are scratched or become infected. Chickenpox that runs its course without scratching rarely leaves marks.
Short nails and controlling the itch are the best scar prevention there is.
It is uncommon but possible, particularly if the first episode was very mild or in early infancy.
The virus also stays dormant and can return later as shingles, which is a different illness.
Yes — someone who has never had chickenpox can catch it from contact with shingles blisters.
You cannot catch shingles itself from anyone. Shingles comes from your own dormant virus reactivating.
Yes, and it is effective. It is given on the NHS to specific at-risk groups, is available privately, and has been recommended for the routine childhood schedule.
Chickenpox parties are not a good idea. The illness is unpredictable, complications do occur, and vaccination achieves immunity without the risk.
It also puts other people's vulnerable relatives at risk, which is rarely part of the calculation.
August 30, 2026
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It means the diagnosis can usually be made from your history and photographs, and that treatment can be arranged safely without examining you. Where a condition is not marked treatable online, it is because examination is the diagnosis — listening to a chest, feeling an abdomen, examining an ear or a joint — or because a procedure or device is needed.
Yes, where there is a genuine bacterial infection — cellulitis, impetigo, bacterial urine infections, confirmed strep throat. We will also frequently tell you that you do not need one. Most sore throats, coughs, colds and earaches are viral, and an antibiotic gives you the side effects with none of the benefit.
If your problem turns out to be genuinely outside what we can do remotely, the doctor will tell you straight away, point you to the right service, and refund your fee in full. We would rather do that than fill twenty minutes to justify the charge.
Call 999 or go to A&E — do not book an online appointment and do not wait for a reply to an email. For urgent problems that are not emergencies, NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, online or by phone, and can direct you to the right service.
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