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Original poster

Anyone had success with lemon myrtle oil or ravintsara oil for Molluscum contagiosum?

27 replies

muslimah28 · 16/08/2011 13:29

that's it really, read some stuff to say the lemon can be an irritant butalso read lots of success stories with it. The herbalist who was anti use of lemon myrtle suggested ravintsara oil instead.

Ds is 15mo, has had one Molluscum since a few weeks old but many more now sine he was around 12mo

OP posts:
Migsy1 · 16/08/2011 22:30

2 of my kids had this. I didn't know that there was any treatment. the spots went after about 2 years.

Original poster
muslimah28 · 17/08/2011 17:28

thanks migsy the gp said to leave them alone and they will go but ive read online about people treating it with varying success with different remedies. theres an australian research paper which suggests lemon myrtle oil is effective but the sample size was small and apparently the irritant effect is a side effect. just wanted to hear other stories i guess. ds's molluscum are on his face mostly so i feel bad for him because they are noticable, unlike if they were say on his arms or sides as with most cases :( im thinking of trying the lemon myrtle in a super dilute form and seeing what happens...

thanks for replying

OP posts:
mrsravelstein · 17/08/2011 17:34

ds1 had them for 7 years which apparently is about as long as you can have them, so we tried everything. biggest success was with zymaderm lotion which you used to have to get from the US but i believe you can now order from amazon. it's herbal so nothing hideous or harsh in it. was immediately effective and cleared him of the first 200 or so (he really had it badly) within a couple of weeks. then used it on/off for years whenever he got them. towards the end they got very bad and it didn't work anymore.

as for 'medical' stuff, we tried a cream called crystacide which you can buy OTC but you have to order it from the pharmacist - it was recommended to us by dermatologist, but it isn't licensed for use on kids or on molluscum, but apparently is highly effective for about 60% of people (didn't work for ds1). it costs about 20 quid i think so is worth a try.

mrsravelstein · 17/08/2011 17:36

if you like homeopathy (i know MN generally doesn't) the remedy for molluscum is thuja

Original poster
muslimah28 · 17/08/2011 21:44

Thanks mrsravelstein I will look up the herbal cream. Dh is a pharmacist funnily enough so I will ask what he thinks of the other cream. I do like homeopathy- hate the stick it gets on MN, some people are violently against it!!- I'm just worried as I know with homeopathy sometimes the treatment brings on the symptoms more before it gets better. And although I've had great success with arnica, a homeopath made a remedy for me for a UTI and postnatal pains and I ended up spending a night feeling like I was in labour again!!

I guess my question is, did you have any side effects and any pain with any of those remedies?

Many thanks:)

OP posts:
twooter · 17/08/2011 21:59

My dc's went away in4months, having been pretty bad up to then. She finally got one infected, and it seemed to trigger an immune response, as they then all went red and went away within 3weeks.

Original poster
muslimah28 · 17/08/2011 22:04

Did u use thuja as a cream or tablets?

OP posts:
mrsravelstein · 18/08/2011 08:38

Didn't have any side effects. The zymaderm was a bit stingy at first, he was only 3 and was covered in them head to foot, but i just fed him choc buttons as i did it the first time, and after that he was fine.

the crystacide apparently is fairly strong stuff so you use it sparingly (your dh will no doubt be able to advise - also there is another cream i cannot remember the name of, it's much stronger, it's for treatment of adult genital warts, and dermatologist also said that can be effective against molluscum, it was fiendishly expensive, like 80 quid or something) but again no we didn't have any side effects.

ds1 took thuja tablets - if i remember correctly the zymaderm has thuja and iodine in it. it really was a miracle lotion for us.

twooter yes the same thing happened to ds1 in the end (but as i said, it took 7 years...) the spots all started to infected, and exactly as you said it triggered a response and within a month or 2 they were all cleared. the dermatologist suggested, when things were really at crisis point with ds1, that we might try scratching them with a (disinfected) pin to sort of create some trauma, which might kickstart the process.

Original poster
muslimah28 · 18/08/2011 22:02

Thanks mrsravelstein. I really don't want to do anything that will cause an irritation as ds is so young. I can't decide between using a treatment in a very very small amount on a small area to see, or just aeeig what happens as it's early days since the first one spread. twooter that's what my gp said, the Molluscum respond well to trauma. But when I squeezed one of the larger ones it did hurt ds which left both of us quite upset :( that's why I'm cautious I guess

OP posts:
mrsravelstein · 18/08/2011 22:08

i would try the zymaderm then, go gently with it and see how it goes - the sooner you can get rid of them, the better.

TheRedQueen · 18/08/2011 22:11

DD had MC for about 18 months - until I caught it from her and decided that enough was enough! I used Aly Paly's method of pricking the "mother wart" with iodine in order to cause trauma and kick start the body's immune system (do a Mumsnet search and you will find it!) and this worked for both of us. DD's warts disappeared within about two weeks of the treatment and mine were gone within about three to four.

tryingtobemarypoppins2 · 18/08/2011 22:22

As TheRedQueen says, the only way to get rid of them is to cause trauma to one and thus trigger an immune response. My GP offered to do it for me if needed.

Migsy1 · 18/08/2011 22:27

I did that when I was about 9 with an ordinary wart. I picked it with my Brownie badge and it became septic. Within a couple of weeks all my other warts had disappeared.

Migsy1 · 18/08/2011 22:28

Not that I am suggesting my method! I'm sure iodine is safer.

Willowisp · 18/08/2011 22:28

My DD has it last summer for perhaps 6 weeks. I confess to squeezing (lots of blood) thinking it was a spot, then researching here & reading Aly Paly's advice. I used to sneak in to her bedroom whilst she was asleep & 'spear' them with a sterilised needle. Blush. Iirc, you need to remove the White ball as that is the virus.

twooter · 19/08/2011 16:08

I tried the iodine method, but my dd screamed the house down, so I didn't manage to pick it. Put clear nail varnish on them all, and one got infected, that then helped the others to go.

25goingon95 · 20/08/2011 12:29

My dd1 has had loads of these, we got rid of lots using dandelion sap.
Now dd2 has them too but hers are just warts?? Huge, horrid warts on her tummy :( The biggest seems to be growing. The doctor said this is still molluscum just a different type to dd1's. Does this sound right? All DD1s spots had that white ball in, i squeezed some of them out and some came out with the dandelion sap. DD2's do not have a core by the look of them just huge warts.

What can i do to help them go? She has had them for about a year and they are growing :( Ugly things. Can i prick them to kick off mmune response? Or no point as they don't have a white core bit??

tryingtobemarypoppins2 · 20/08/2011 20:59

I would prick one and use Lemon Mytle, GP suggested this if DS caught them from his pal.

25goingon95 · 21/08/2011 00:36

I think i will give it a go, thanks.

rosar · 21/08/2011 06:46

There are only a few essential oils you can use directly on skin, also purity of the oil is very important. I am told that Lavender is usually safe, has anti-viral properties too. Other immunostimulants recommended to me were Melissa and Frankincense, but they probably need diluting. Apologies if you know all this, and are using a good therapist already. Hope they help.

tryingtobemarypoppins2 · 21/08/2011 07:25

DON'T USE LEMON MYRTLE NEAT ON THE SKIN. 1%.

See

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15183850

www.cks.nhs.uk/clinical_knowledge/clinical_topics/previous_version/molluscum_contagiosum.pdf

Original poster
muslimah28 · 21/08/2011 22:04

thanks marypoppins and Rosar I was definitely only going o use lemon myrtle in a dilute form. Used to be a Saturday girl in a Health food shop lol so I remember all about not using essential oils neat. :) however can't decide on the oil vs zymoderm and now since reading the nhs clinical review article am minded to just leave them a while longer. it's only been about five months since they started to spread so it's early days. And I am cautious about both the pain factor and also the scarring issue associated with treatment. Am being very indecisive but largely due to my extreme caution following having tried tonsqueeze one :(

OP posts:
lmcn · 21/08/2011 22:08

I used zymaderm & it was the only thing that worked

tryingtobemarypoppins2 · 21/08/2011 22:29

zymaderm sounds less painful. I would be tempted to treat them.....but your probably right to leave them!

tryingtobemarypoppins2 · 21/08/2011 22:32

BTW the main ingrediant in zymaderm is tea tree oil, hence not as strong as lemon myrtle.