Molluscum Contagiousum

It's totally harmless, causes it's characteristic bumps with the hollow-like centers, and they can last up to 3 months. That's the long and short of it, it's really not a big deal at all and it's very common.

I have two boys and both of them had it but a year apart. I took them both to a dermatologist to have them removed. My younger son had it in his arm pit and the Dr. brushed some type of solution on it. It scabs up a bit and looks worse after treatment but then gets better, My older son had them "froze" off. He said that hurt quite a bit. He had to go for a 2nd application as well. Same thing, it looks worse after treatment but then goes away. No big deal though. Good luck.

Dear K.,

I own a childcare facility and I had a little boy who had molluscum contagiousum. It sounds worse than it is. I remember it looked like warts however it didn't seem to bother the child at all. I would see a dermatologist verses regular pediatrician for treatment. I remember we all freaked out after looking it up on the internet. Believe me there was no cause for alarm because he was only out of school for a few days and noone in the school caught it, and we are talking about a daycare where children pass all types of illnesses around. I am not sure what the course of treatment was I can't remember I just remember it wasen't as bad as we had thought. I am sure your child will be fine.

My daughter, age 6, has had this since January (it's finally fading now). It doesn't bother her at all - just bumps on her skin, no itching or hurting. My ancient pediatrician, who spent his early years as a dermatologist, said the virus is harmless and can last from 6 months to 1 year. He said that if we want the bumps to go away faster, we could pop them and clean them frequently with Betadine, but since they don't bother my daughter, we've decided to just let it run its course. I understand they can be contagious with frequent contact, but my other two kids have shown no sign of them, even though all three still bathe together. Of course, my 6 year old picks up a lot more colds than the other two, so we've always thought that she had a weaker immune system. No worries! Good luck!

My daughter had it on her stomach.. I left it (Dr. said it would go away.. it took about 8 mo. and it did go away) My don had it on his farhead and near his eyes... he wanted it removed.. he didn't like it.. do we had it removed.. they put a topical on it.. slice them off.. and they scab over.. he never got it again.. he was happier having them removed at the age of 10.

My boys both had them, the oldest had more and were on his ear. They ran their course and both boys are free of them...it took 2 yrs. We did pop and clean them. One boy had one on his butt that hurt, so we relieved it for him. I didnt take them to a dermatologist, and they went away. No worries.

No one had this virus when we were kids! I first heard of it 2+ years ago when a boy in my daughter's class had it. Fast forward to last winter, and my daughter had it, her best friend had it, and at least one other kid that I know of.

My 7 y/o daughter had it behind her knees, and we tried to let it run it's course. After about 4 months, eczema formed in conjunction with it and she ended up with a secondary infection, so we needed to treat that (antibiotics), treat the eczema (topical), and then go in to have the warts frozen off at the dermatologist. The doc said that they were starting to go away on their own, but we all thought it best under the circumstances to nudge her along. She had very little discomfort from the process, and she is a big complainer when it comes to boo-boos! ;)

We were supposed to have another round of treatment 4 weeks later to catch any stray bumps that may have popped up afterwards, but we have had to cancel her appt twice. And I don't see anything back there now!

It's icky and annoying, but there are certainly worse things.

As with most skin viruses, I would be really hesitant to "supress" your child's symptoms... try homeopathy or something similarly gentle that will strengthen your child's constitution and help resolve it quickly on its own. When things are on the skin, they are making their way out of the body- exiting. This, while potentially uncomfortable or unpleasant, is a positive pathology.

I've had a lot of success with homeopathy on my kids, and I love that homeopathy doesn't keep you stuck in a diagnosis or set of rules about how the illness will manifest or how long it will last. Remedies are chosen not based on your "diagnosis", but on your actual presenting symptoms and the child's constition- tendency, personality, idiosyncracies- and a properly chosen remedy can cause symptoms to disappear far more quickly than conventional western medicine predicts they will last.

I would also suggest using pure body care products with calendula as an ingredient, and perhaps mixing in some tea tree oil in your wash (and washing infected person's clothing separately). Weleda is a great body care brand available in any good health food store that tends to use calendula in their products, and there are others- just scan labels. Beware of all the multi-level marketing brands that claim to be natural; never buy something if you can't have a full ingredient list first and if the ingredients are inherently inedible, you can find better products that ARE. If it's good for your inside, its good for your outside. I say this because I always see people responding to skin care issues with tons of "ads" for whatever brand they sell and after researching most of the ingredients for what people claim to be natural, I'm always disappointed.

I know that, in most adult cases, it is typically considered an STD, but don't worry! It can be transmitted by casual contact particularly if the bumps are in places like knees, arms, etc. and among children.

Also, it does typically run its course, but can take awhile. And, if you choose not to remove them, I believe you can spread them yourself to other parts of your body. For example, if you have them on your inner thighs, and your legs rub together when you walk, you can keep spreading them in that area.

If you check with a dermatologist, he or she can tell you the best way to handle it--whether to let it go, or have them removed. Here's a link to more info...

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/molluscum-contagiosum/DS...

Hi K.

As a mom of four children, I have seen this in all four of my kids. It is, as its name indicates, contagious. My son picked it up at a public pool, and then his sisters (all two years apart) each showed up with them.

Our family doctor sent us to a dermatologist, who removed the little warts by freezing them. It stung but it was necessary to get rid of them, and we finally achieved that after about three or four months of treatment. We stopped bathing the children together, and that seemed to help as well.

Not a major issue, but one that you have to get through anyway.

R.

My son was diagnosed with this in his groin area in May. His pediatrician prescribed Aldara (Imiquimod), which she said worked for most children with this skin virus. We used it regularly and it did not work. The next step the pediatrician suggested in July was treating them in the office weekly. We delayed this until September due to weekly office visits and not being able to swim on treatment days. Two weeks ago, she treated 31 of the wart-like bumps. Last week she treated 18, and yesterday 11. We now don't have to go back for 2 weeks as she feels we are on the right road. In the evening after each morning treatment, each treated "wart" becomes a boil and then they pop, which occurs overnight. The first week was the worst. I thought he wouldn't go to school the next day, but the issue was the bath, not the bursting of the boils. That first bath was torturous for our son. We gave him Tylenol. The pediatrician initially said this would go away on its own within a year. We chose to treat it as we were afraid he would be embarrassed at sleep away Boy Scout camp this summer. Obviously it was not healed by camp, and it didn't seem to bother him. As far as its being contagious, the only recommendation the MD had was he could not go in kiddie swimming pools (stagnant water) or take a bath before his siblings, unless we changed out the tub water and scrubbed down the tub. So far, his siblings show no signs of it. I hope this is helpful. Feel free to contact me with questions. It has been very educational for us as we had never heard of molluscum contagiousum. Don't our children teach us new things every day? Take care, and good luck.

Both of my sons had this when they were small (4-6 years old) on their torsos. The first advice I was given was to not let them sit in the tub because it gets into the bath water which can help it spread. The next direction was to wash their bath towels with each use for the same reason. Then I was told (by a physician) that I could put a small piece of duct tape over them which would essentially suffocate them over time and they would go away (did not really work for me)

At first we did not treat at all but it was getting worse. I was told you could "prick" them with a sterile needle and put compound W on them which would expedite the removal process. I did this for one and it was traumatic for me and my son so abandoned that idea. At the end of the day, and after discussions with several doctors (and girlfriends whose kids had this before) I found that the best "at home" solution was to choose several molluscum to treat at once, place a pindrop of Compound W on the top (or prescribed Salycilic Acid solution) and cover with an occlusive (air tight) bandage overnight. It takes days/weeks of doing this religiously but it does work. When the first few are gone, you then pick a few more. It worked very well and was not painful for my sons.

One of the moms who responded had a child who sounds like he had an extensive number of these spots. In this case, I would think my method would take waaaay too long and would certainly trust my dermatologist to handle it in office.

As for homeopathic methods, I am all for it if someone has something effective. This condition is very much topical - it is a virus that lives on the surface of the skin rather than being systemic so I do not believe that treatment from within the body would be appropriate. I would be interested to know if anyone had success with tea tree oil???