When I was eight or
nine some of my sisters and I had impetigo.
Two memories of it included having purple
“medicine” painted on each sore and the doctor told Mom to wash the front steps
with Clorox.
We did a lot of
playing on the front steps with toys and dolls, and neighbor kids joined
us. The treatment was to peel off the
paper-like scab and then paint it with purple medicine. Of course, if you had purple paint spots you were noticed!
Fast forward to
today and our perfect grandson’s impetigo is treated with oral antibiotics and
an ointment that is not purple!
I’ve since learned
that the purple was Gentian Violet. Gentian violet is an antiseptic dye used to
treat fungal infections of the skin. It
isn’t used for impetigo anymore.
