To not take 3yo DD to the GP?

[Badgoushk]

DD has molluscum on her inner arm and outer chest wall. She caught it from her cousin in September. I know that it can take 18 months to disappear. Over the past few days, one spot looked swollen and inflamed and this morning I called the GP to get an appointment as I thought she might need antibiotics. The GP opens at 8.30 but by the time I got through at 8.50, all the emergency appointments had gone. I booked the first 'regular' appointment available which is in 12 days time. I could call up again tomorrow for more emergency appointments however....

Tonight in the bath it had formed a head. I very gently touched the normal skin nearby and pus started to come out. I would say about 0.5-1 cubic cm of pus came out very easily (not squeezing but gently rubbing the normal skin a few cm back. I think a bit more may come out tomorrow.

She doesn't have a temperature but her cheeks have been flushed for a few days. She's her normal boisterous self.

AIBU to not push for an emergency appointment but wait until the normal appointment, considering that the infection/pus has come out? She's normally fit and well.

To avoid drip feeding, I'm a hospital doctor but have never done paediatrics. Plus it's different when it's your own child!

Picture shows before purulent eruption!

I wouldn't take her

GP here too. Agree with the other one. Also if one gets really inflamed the others often disappear too.

No don't take her ... it means it's on its way out.

I'm a senior HCP & one thing I have found helpful with molluscum is tea tree oil .

My son had them on his face GP referred him to a dermatologist who tried all sorts of weird & wonderful preparations on prescription.

Nothing worked except the tea tree oil .

Also if one gets really inflamed the others often disappear too

Which is really interesting (if you are a sad medic geek like me) because molluscum manipulate the host immune response and dampen down the inflammatory response which is why they are usually able to lurk for so long - see paper here. Presumably bacterial superinfection wakes up the inflammatory response and leads to the immune system getting rid of both infections, bacterial & molluscum.

Get a nurses appointment, they can prescribe some medicines but if its bad enough and anything like my surgery they stick there head out the door see which doctor is free and get them to have a look. Sometimes they'll just phone to the Doctors office and whoever is there writes a prescription and you get it at reception.

Hello. Can you tell me what "pearl clutching" is, please?

Pearl clutching is a description of an over dramatic reaction to something shocking - in the manner of a Victorian lady gasping and clutching at her pearl necklace. In this context it means an overreaction to something that isn't really shocking at all but is causing Victorian swooning in some readers.

I wouldn't go to the doctors for that, emergency or otherwise. I'd probably just had thought, oooh zit, and squeezed it.

I wouldn't go to GP either. My DDs molluscum did this before they started to go. She was riddled down one side of her torso, armpit and inner arm. 4 of the 80odd did this over the space of a few weeks, after the last one exploded they all went. She had it for about 7 months.

Nothing to add except I think the photograph is absolutely fine and doesn't need to be removed.
Maybe Mountain should explain

My daughter had this too. She has a MASSVIE one on her leg - seriously I have never seen so much pus in my life! It just kept coming and coming - was like half her leg came out But then it all got much better. Poor thing, it looks pretty grim but it will all clear up eventually!

Hope it's better today op.

Thanks everyone so much for your replies. It looks a lot better this morning and more dried up. It's still a bit red but DD is full of beans. I'm really hoping that this is the beginning of the end of the rest of them as many posters have experienced.

Re. the photograph - because the nipple is showing. I think your DD (when she's older) may not appreciate a photograph of her being shared with her nipple showing as well.

Granted I'd just watched the two peado documentaries!

Mountain,

Stop watching them. It will help.

mountain how the bleedin fuckity fuck will she ever know. This is an anonymous forum.

Deep breath in ...

dontcallme

I second the use of tea tree oil. Get some plasters and put a bit of tea tree oil on the plaster, then put it on the erupting/about to erupt spot. It keeps them covered when they're erupting and also dries them out. Kept my dd's spots under control and I reckon also stopped her spreading them to someone else.

Agree with other posters, when my DD had one go a bit like this it was the beginning of the end.

Needs don't need help, but thanks.

don't - it's not about her knowing or not. It's about whether she'd be comfortable with it. It has nothing to do with things being anon, or not either.

It takes less than five minutes to take a photograph from a forum and share it with sickos - who then share it further. They don't care if they have a name for the child.

Of course the photo doesn't need removing, this is madness.
Both mine had horrendous molluscum, just awful, BUT in both cases once one molluscum did that, I kid you not, the whole lot were gone in a couple of days. Definitely the beginning of the end and I definitely wouldn't take her to the GP unless she gets elevated temp and red streaks start coming out from the area etc (OP, are you really a doctor?? )

Mountain - if someone takes an innocent anonymous photo off the Web and shares it without the knowledge of the subject then I honestly don't see who is being harmed? It's very different from photos being deliberately taken and shared. It would be impossible and illogical to take all kids photos of the Web because some folk get a kick out of it. Sorry to derail thread further. Op yanbu

Nothing wrong with the photo. Bit ott of other poster.

Glad it's drying up though. I wouldn't have worried unless it had started tracking, but you would know that anyway

Agree with removing the photo... and then replacing it with a video of squeezing the pus out.