Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Preparing for your appointment
By Mayo Clinic staffYour family doctor or your child's pediatrician can diagnosis impetigo. Be sure to call ahead for an appointment, to minimize waiting and possibly infecting others in a crowded waiting room.
Because appointments can be brief and there's often a lot to discuss, it can help to be well prepared. Here are some tips to help you get ready for your appointment and what to expect from your doctor.
What you can do
Your time with your doctor is limited, so preparing a list of questions helps you make the most of your appointment. List your questions from most important to least important in case time runs out. For impetigo, some basic questions to ask your doctor include:
- What might be causing the signs and symptoms?
- Are tests needed to confirm the diagnosis?
- What is the best course of action?
- Is there a generic alternative to the medicine you're prescribing?
- Can I wait to see if the condition goes away on its own?
- What can I do to prevent the infection from spreading?
- What skin-care routines do you recommend while the condition heals?
What to expect from your doctor
Your doctor is likely to ask you a number of questions, such as:
- When did the sores first start?
- What did the sores look like when they first started?
- Have you had any recent cuts, scrapes or insect bites to the affected area?
- Are the sores painful or itchy?
- What, if anything, makes it better?
- What, if anything, makes it worse?
- Does someone in your family already have impetigo?
- Habif, TP. Bacterial infections. In: Clinical Dermatology: A Color Guide to Diagnosis and Therapy. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby, Inc; 2004. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/103909824-2/0/1195/53.html?tocnode=51440785&fromURL=53.html#4-u1.0-B0-323-01319-8..50011-X_938. Accessed Aug. 11, 2008.
- Morelli JG. Cutaneous bacterial infections. In: Kliegman RM, et al. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/103909824-3/743716949/1608/1552.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2450-7..50666-6--cesec5_12130. Accessed Aug. 11, 2008.
- Cole C, et al. Diagnosis and treatment of impetigo. American Family Physician. 2007;75(6):859-864, 868.
- Lopez FA, et al. Skin and soft tissue infections. Infectious Disease Clinics of North America. 2006;20(4):759-772.
- Community-associated MRSA information for the public. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa_ca_public.html. Accessed Aug. 11, 2008
- Baddour LM, et al. Impetigo. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 11, 2008.
