Chicken pox, everyone has heard of them but what do chicken pox look like? This shows the signs, and symptoms of chicken pox.

Chicken pox is a common illness that a child may come down with. Although not every child experiences chicken pox it is likely that it could happen.

The most common symptom of chicken pox is that of itchy red rashes on the body. What do chicken pox look like?

Chicken pox is caused by a viral infection that the child has gotten from somewhere. It is highly contagious and is actually contagious even before symptoms begin to develop. A child can take anywhere from 3 to 20 days to show symptoms of chicken pox. The most common symptom of chicken pox is that of the rashes. These are red, itchy spots that begin to develop on the trunk of the child's body. A day or so later these spots may begin to spread anywhere from the scalp, to the arms, and down the legs. These spots become raised after 2 to 3 days after arriving on the child's body. From there these rashes can become fluid filed and look almost like dew drops on the skin, only they are red dew drops. After 6 days the rashes will begin to crust over and then flake off. It might takes as long as 21 days to completely be cured of the rashes or as little as 7 days. The rashes are extremely itchy and a simple camomile lotion can help heal the itching of the rashes. If there is massive redness around the rashes then this is an atypical sign of chicken pox and a health care provider should be contacted. Scarring does not usually occur after the scabs flake off.

Other symptoms of chicken pox include, headaches, abdominal pain that lasts 1 to 2 days, and loss of apatite. There are less common and more serious symptoms which include slurred speech, coughing or difficulty breathing, and anything that has to do with neurological difficulties. If these symptoms are present a health care provider should be contacted immediately as this is not a normal symptom of chicken pox. However these symptoms develop very rarely in any case of chicken pox and are not something that should be worried about by a parent.