My three year old son has recently suffered from a really bad case of chicken pox, He managed to catch it off of another little boy from his nursery school, To be honest I was quiet relieved as it meant that it would get it out of the way before he starts school in September so I wouldnt need to worry too much about him having to take time off of school any time in the future because of it. Unfortunately the poor little man got it quiet badly,he had over a hundred spots all over his body and even had them spread into his mouth and one of his eyes which was a total nightmare in itself, he had so many spots you could literally of played dot to dot on him.

As soon as those first few spots appeared it was off to the local pharmacy to purchase a bottle of calamine lotion and some Calpol to get him through, unfortunately the more spots that developed the more increasingly difficult we found trying to apply the lotion on the spots.
Trying to get my three year old son to sit still whilst I dabbed freezing cold calamine lotion onto each individual spot, especially when there are over a hundred of them was mission impossible, my son would squirm and move and wriggle and moan and cry, the lotion is also quiete messy to apply so as well as getting it on him it was ending up everywhere else and then trying to get him to stay still until it had dried, you try getting a three year old to sit still. We then started to hit the problem after application that as soon as the lotion had dried onto the skin he would rub the powdery redisue off, defeating the object of applying it in the first place.

I found myself off to the pharmacy again to seek advice as I needed to do something to try and prevent him from scratching the spots and taking the scabs off and because he had so many he was getting very itchy and irritable because of it.

I had a chat with one of the pharmacy assistants and explained the problems which we were having, he automatically understood the issue and presented me with a small round tub, he explained that this was Aqueous Calamine cream that it combines calamine lotion with conventional Aqueous cream and was indeed very popular with parents who have younger children with Chicken pox. I had personally never heard of this product but I knew the benefits that aqueous cream has so was more than happy to try this on my son.

Aqueous cream is well known as being an effective moisturiser for dry skin conditions, it is designed to effectively help keep the skin moist and places a layer of oil on the skins surface creating a barrier that prevents the skin from losing any moisture, locking it inside and helping to keep the skin moist, smooth and soft.

Calamine is known to be an antipruritic and is used within products to help treat itching or mild skin irritations. Its commonly known to help aid in conditions such as Sunburn, Eczema, Chicken Pox, Insect bites and stings by providing a cooling and soothing effect.

Because of these factors I thought that it would be perfect in aiding the relief of my little boys Chicken pox.

The product is suitable for use by both adults and children, thats providing they are not allergic to any of the ingredients.

Aqueous Calamine cream comes in a 100ml white tub, the lid can be removed easily once the seal has been broken and removed and remains secure once the lid had been placed back on.

Inside you will find a pale pink cream, this pink colouring comes from the added calamine as aqueous alone is usually a white colour.
The cream itself is thick in consistency and really easy to apply, its creamy texture makes it easy to rub into the skin, it literally glides on. To apply I simply dipped my fingers into the cream and applied it liberally to the affected areas (obviously not the ones in his eye and mouth), rubbing until it was completely absorbed by the skin, it beat having to individually dabb each spot and unlike the calamine lotion their is no residue left on the surface of the skin which had really bothered my little boy. The cream does have a slight scent of calamine to it but its not over powering in any way and it seems to wear off after a short time so does not linger.

So my opinion:
Well the Aqueous Calamine cream is certainly far more effective to use than that of calamine lotion itself, the fact that all you need to do is liberally apply and rub it into the affected areas is so much easier than having to get my son to sit down still for a period of time whilst I dabbed him with the lotion, withing two minutes I could completely cover him head to toe and then leave him to his own devices, although it couldnt really be used on any of the spots that were on the scalp.

As I said Aqueous cream has great moisturising properties and my sons skin was certainly looking and feeling more moisturised and soft to the touch when I was using this, I also found that this moisturising is great in helping with the scabs.. When a person has chicken pox its the drying out of the scabs phase which causes the itching sensation which you get so you find yourself wanting to scratch or pick at them, this is ultimately what can result in scars. The Aqueous cream helps to combat this itching sensation and moisturise the surrounding tissue around them. Once we started to use this my son was no longer going for the scabs or tearing himself apart by scratching himself , he seemed soothed so it was evident that he was far more comfortable.

I feel that because of this my son came off really well as visually he has only been left with six scars, thats from over 100 spots, although typically they are all on his face and forehead.

I would almost certainly highly recommend this cream in the treatemnt of chicken pox, its a great alternative to calamine lotion but it does not treat the chicken pox itself only the symptoms directly assosiated by them.

The only one disadvantage to this cream is the fact that you can only purchase this cream in 100ml tubs, so if you are liberally applying the cream to the affected areas several times a day you will soon find that you will be running out so I advise you in the case of the chicken pox to stock up on it and as I said earlier it can be used in cases such as Sunburn, Eczema, and Insect bites so it is something handy to have in the house.

You can find Calamine Aqueous in most general Pharmacys or Pharmacy counters at your local super markets although you may find that you have to ask for it as ive found that its kept beind the counter rather than on the shope floor.

a 100ml tub retails at approx between £1.25p- £2.00p depending on where it is that you purchase the cream from. But believe me it was worth every penny for the relief it gave my son.