Molluscum Contagiosum or Is It??

My Dr treated it. A little 'bug juice' on each of the spots and a week later they were gone. A couple of the spots did scar but its only noticeable to me. Treatment was no big dea. He can spread them to other children so why not treat them?

My sons both had it. I waited almost 2 years with my first son and it never went away. When he was about 4 I took him in and had it treated. They put beetle juice on it and the next day it looked awful! But, my son played like it didn't bother him at all even though I kept asking him and he said he was fine. The treated spots cleared up within a week and he hasn't had trouble with them since! My second son started getting them when he was about 2 also and I treated them right away. I didn't want them to get as bad as my first son's. He had them EVERYWHERE. My 2 year old was just fine and the blisters didn't seem to bother him either.
I say treat them. The blisters look ugly, but within a week or two your kid should be back to normal. It is highly contagious, so your son should not be swimming with anyone else or bathing since he can pass it on!
L.

Yes it was taking so long to go away spread like wildfire.. My dd do swim team and were upset it showed.. Even on thei neck...ugh.. They treated it carefully and no scars... One dd had over 50 bumps..ugh

They are both right, lol.
It can go away on its own, and it can take up to 2 years (but seems longer because they can spread, so the last ones they get may last for 2 years, approximately), but they can also spread. Not just to others, but on your son.
If you google it, you will find tons of "information" about it, but very little "science". Mostly, just a lot of personal anecdotal information. Which is good to know, but can also be a little frightening, because some of the folks who have their experience with it out there had horrible experiences with it. That, of course, would be the people most likely to bother, right?
My daughter got it a few years ago. Just a bump or two here or there (2 small ones on the side of her neck, then later one or two on her leg just below the knee, eventually a couple in her scalp). We did end up going to the dermatologist (long wait) to get them removed (used the canthadarin (sp?) and wart treatment--bug juice combined with prescription wart stuff applied by the dermatologist). It was successful and they didn't come back.
It is believed that they spread more readily in folks with a weaker immune system. Not necessarily someone "sick", but children, or those with allergies, or somehow less than optimal immune systems. Those who are more susceptible, can get a LOT of these 'growths/warts'. Not just the 2 or 3 that your son may have. Or even 5 or 7. Some folks get 50-100. And to get them on the face would be particularly bothersome (not just aesthetically, but eyelids and such that would be physically bothersome). And yes, they are contagious and are spread by contact. Not necessarily skin to skin. The virus can survive for long periods of time on surfaces, including things like towels (so summer pool activities are notorious vectors for spreading it, b/c of the shared towel thing and bare bodies that leave the warts themselves exposed).
So, you have some who will advocate removing them to avoid spreading them to others and also to help stop the spread on the individual. And you have some who say, mehhh..it'll go away without you having to do anything (no $, no scarring, just a little bit of patience required). It varies case to case I would imagine. If your son is healthy as a horse, and he has had these bumps for a while and they haven't spread all over him, then they'll probably go away on their own over time. My son had a couple (didn't know what they were until our daughter's were diagnosed)... but they went away on their own. Daughter's were treated, b/c she had one in her scalp that the comb scraped and it got infected. So we went ahead to get rid of the rest and be done with it.

I did also find out (anecdotal to OUR situation) that the more I worried and stressed and tried to home remedy it, the more it seemed (SEEMED) like they were spreading. I even thought I had gotten one on my face! (Maybe I did, but it went away when I stopped stressing). I finally made the derm. appt and made a conscious decision to not worry about it until the appt (8 weeks out!). My spot went away, and all the little "baby" spots that I thought the kids were getting disappeared as well. Only the 3 or so that we KNEW were there all along were still there when we finally got in to the derm. I had been stressing the kids out with all MY stress.

Yes, it is VERY common. Now that I know what it is, I see it all the time. Creeps me out, b/c I know how crazy it "can" get, and I don't want to get it again. It is not impossible to have it return though, it's not like it makes you immune I don't think. So far, we haven't had it back in our house. I guess their immune systems are mature enough now...

My son had it, and it didn't go away completely for 15 months WITH treatment. It is the most difficult thing to get rid of because if they scratch it and it opens, the virus spreads and new bumps form. My son does have some scarring, but it looks like little pin pricks - nothing big and his pediatrician said they should fade over time. We treated with Immiquod and it dries the bumps up much faster than letting nature take it's course. Make sure he doesn't wear the same clothes after one wear. That goes for towels and washcloths too. Everything is he touches gets used once then into the wash. It's a pain in the butt, but it's worth it. Good luck. It is the most frustrating thing I've been through with him so far! (I saw someone else say something about how easy it spreads especially at pools - that's where we think my son got it, so keep his bumps covered when swimming and make sure no one else uses his towels) So sorry you're going through this!

I think waiting up to 2 years is too long. Our family physician wanted to scrape them off (or have us do it) and the first one he did to show us was obviously very painful to do and I decided we didn't want to do that. We finally took my daughter to a dermatologist and she prescribed some sort of herpes cream I think (it somehow signaled the body that there was an infection to attack because the molluscum isn't detected by the body as a threat). Anyway, it took a few months probably because she had so many and then her younger sister got some. My older daughter had them on her neck and around her eyes and cheeks. They are all cleared up now with only a couple scars on her torso that came from some stubborn blisters. They didn't seem to hurt her but she was bothered by them, probably mostly because they bothered me. In any case, I would treat them, but not by scraping, only with a topical remedy that fights them. Sorry I can't remember what the dermatologist prescribed us, if I remember I'll let you know.

My daughter had it when she was in daycare. It did take almost 2 years before it was completely gone (I admit I lost track of the time, so I'm not sure exactly). We did not treat it at all. It also did not spread to any one else in our family (or at the daycare that I know of) and we didn't try to reduce contact with her at all.

I had this. How embarrassing, and God only knows where I got it from. Yes, it will resolve on it's own...and yes, it took about two years. The doctor also recommended NOT treating it because treatment can either be very expensive or very painful.

I cringe at the word molluscum!!!! My son had it but only about 6 total through the time frame of roughly a year. I however couldn't leave well enough alone so when he was sleeping, hes a very hard sleeper! Anyway, while he was sleeping I would take a sterile needle, alcohol swabs, paper towel and a bandaid and when the white seed was really showing I would take the needle and get at the seed, wipe it down with the swabs and put a bandaid on it and it would dry up and go away. none of them scarred and they didnt get the chance to cluster together. I did make him take only showers, new towel each time and new jammies every night. I was a tad anal but I can handle 6 and they are gone!! His cousins are the ones who gave it to him and they are still suffering going on 2 years from them. Their mom doesnt take any preventative measures though with the towels, sharing clothes etc.

my kis both had it..dd had the herpes cream, they came back. ds had them removed, they came back. The only thing that worked for us was dabbing at them with apple cider vinegar! Cheap, natural, and works!

My stepson got it first. His mom sent him to a nasty daycare (it reeked of urine) and thats where he picked it up. In turn, he gave it to two of his brothers. They look like little warts and my kids always got them in clusters, usually on their trunk, but sometimes on their legs and arms. I had three different doctors (two peds at different times and our GP) tell me that they do not typically treat them, but could freeze them off. We opted to not treat them, as it was unnecessary pain for something that continued to reappear anyway. For my kids, it took about 18 mos- 2 years for them to go away. We had them floating around our house for about 3 or 4 years. As soon as one kid would be about over them, another one would get it, with a little bit of overlap. They are finallly GONE! I wouldn't bother with freezing them off- they will keep coming back until it has run its course, so why put your son through the pain?

ETA: On the occasion that any of the warts opened up, we would clean the area with peroxide, treat with with antibiotic ointment and put a bandaid on it overnight. Then it would usually dry up on its own and heal.