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Children's health

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Molluscum/eczema

7 replies

Woodlands · 09/01/2012 22:38

My 18 month old DS has had molluscum warts on his back for maybe 4-5 months now. I took him to the GP in October who said not to worry. As the warts died off they started to go a bit scabby and unpleasant to look at, but they didn't seem to cause too many problems. More warts appeared. Recently eczema has flared up around the area and his whole back is very dry and red. Some of the warts seem to be desperately itchy - whenever he has access to his back (which is only when we get him into the bath and afterwards, he has a poppered vest the rest of the time to stop this) he scratches and scratches until it bleeds everywhere. Every day at the moment his vests get spots of blood all over the back. We have been using Diprobase as an emollient to keep the area moisturised, but to no avail.

We saw (a different) GP this afternoon who had a good look and agreed it is probably molluscum with eczema. He said normally you should leave molluscum well alone but obviously this needs treatment. He said he would prescribe a steroid cream but it was not a good idea to use one on a viral infection as it would spread it. So he's referred DS to a dermatologist - I'm not sure how long it will be till we get an appointment.

My question is what can I do for DS in the meantime? I'll keep moisturising and we're going to cut down on baths as this probably doesn't help. He gets the odd patch of eczema elsewhere sometimes but nothing too bad. Should I get some sensitive non-bio washing powder for his vests?

I had some Fucidin H from when he had a bit of infected eczema a while back and had been tempted to try that - I guess I'm glad I didn't if it's likely to spread the molluscum infection. But what will a dermatologist do? I hope they can prescribe something, the poor boy is so itchy!

OP posts:
Sandalwood · 09/01/2012 22:44

Our GP gave DD an antibacterial cream (dermol cream) for molluscum. She also gets eczema and had scratched and one of the molluscum warts got infected.

Itsboywonder · 10/01/2012 18:44

My DS has molluscum, we put up with it for a while as he only had a couple of warts but recently it got much worse so I did some research to see if there was anything I could do. The Wikipedia page on molluscum mentioned something called lemon myrtle oil, with a link to a scientific study that showed positive effects in the majority of cases. Bought a 10ml bottle on line for about £8 and have been using it for a few days with a good response so far. Some smaller warts have disappeared and larger ones are getting smaller. It's early days but I am hoping that this will at least prevent any new warts from appearing. To use it I made a 10% solution of the oil by mixing it with olive oil and dabbed it on the warts with a cotton bud being careful not to get it on the surrounding skin as it does sting if the skin is broken.

It's early days for us but based on the effects so far I'd say it is worth a try.

DedalusDigglesPocketWatch · 10/01/2012 18:51

DD had molloscum and eczema on her arms and legs. We got a trial of Dexoryl(so?) On MN and it helped the eczema and seemed clear up the molloscum. She suffers with eczema still but that was the last of the molloscum.

pixie54 · 10/01/2012 19:04

Our dd has had molloscum on her body with patches of eczema associated with it. She had it for about six months. It sounds totally gross but we did burst some of the molloscum spots ( apparently it can trigger an immuno response in the body to fight the virus) - all spots were gone in under a fortnight.

Woodlands · 10/01/2012 23:09

Thanks for all your responses. there seem to be lots of things to try!

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WhatsWrongWithYule · 10/01/2012 23:35

As well as the above, if you do a quick advanced search you'll find loads of suggestions to trawl through. It seems it's now treatable, unlike when my DCs had it and we pretty much had to sit it out for 18 months while it ran its course.
Hope you find something - it's horrid.
I think I stopped giving DS1 dairy for a bit, as he had eczema on the backs of his legs when the warts were there - but I appreciate that's difficult with a child so young.

Woodlands · 11/01/2012 17:25

I have searched already - there seem to be so many options out there. The trouble is I'm reluctant to put lots of different stuff on when the skin is broken, bleeding and so dry - if it was just the warts it would be different.

Just made an appointment for 15 Feb - seems a long way off now!

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