Molluscum contagiosum

[Milkwagon]

My 2.5 lo has this and I was wondering if anyone else has experience? How long did its last? I also have a 6mth old baby and worried it could be caught - should they stop sharing baths? They have their own towels. I also take my lo swimming every week - is this still ok? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hiya,

My DS had this very badly when he was 4. Giant unpainful boils on the backs of his knees and insides of his arms. They were pretty spectacular and it was all i could do not to squeeze them !

I tried everything at first. Silver solutions, apple cider vinegar topically, antibacterial cream, homeopathy etc. After about 6 months it was clear none of it was helping and some of it actually hurt him. As they genuinely didn't bother him I gave up. He still did his swim lessons, but in an all-in-one sun suit. He wore light cotton pyjamas with long sleeves and trousers (that looked like day clothes) all summer as this didn't irritate the spots.

His sister did eventually get it too despite not sharing towels. She only got about 10 spots in all, mainly on her neck. I think there was an element of inevitability about her getting it as they are very close and are often in contact with each other bouncing on the trampoline etc.

After about a year, one day I suddenly realised he had no new spots and within a week they had totally vanished. Unfortunately, or maybe reassuringly, this is just an infection that needs to clear of it's own accord and from what I've read, there is not much that can be done about it.

It's pretty spectacular though at its' worst, so my sympathies! Hope that helps.

Very similar experience here. too. Came, looked spectacular, nothing helped, it went away again!

DD has this and we have been treating it for about a month with Molludab. We've also read advice which we're following, such as; fresh towels, pjs, clothes and bedding every day (lots of washing!), no sharing bath water, showers instead of baths and plenty of Aveeno/Epaderm on the skin daily to stop any eczema. To be honest, it's a complete nightmare. I'd never heard of molluscum before she got it and just want it over with, especially as summer is approaching and it'll be harder to hide it. I think she also has it developing on her face, which makes things twice as bad.
I wish you all the best with the recovery process.
Oh, and we're avoiding swimming just because we read that a warm damp environment is a breeding ground for the virus, but I also read that you can spray them with liquid plasters and still go swimming.

p.s we were told by the GP that it usually clears up by itself in 6 - 18 months

We just carried on as normal with no special precautions. Couldn't be bothered with all of that for 18 months. Doc made some comment about not sharing towels but that was all.
Children with eczema more likely to get it as their skin barrier isn't good.
No-one else in the family got it.

Thanks everyone for your help. I think we're in for the long haul. She's had for 6-8 weeks and looks awful. It's under her arm & on the side of her torso. It sometimes looks as if it's clearing up & then it will look worse. She has eczema and were were using Hydramol but I've stopped this now as thought it was making it worse. I feel I'm responsible for not keeping her clean - I don't know how she's got it. She goes to nursery & playgroups. Poor thing - as if the eczema was bad enough .

DD has it. She has mild eczema and our GP said to make sure we continued to apply her Diprobase etc as molloscum can make the skin really dry.

GP also advised giving light trauma to the spots (rough drying with a towel etc), as this can stimulate the body's response to them. Not working so far in our case, we're about 3 months in.

DD had it from about 1yr old. Doc said it would clear up eventually. She is now 3 1/2 and it is at its worst. Two and half years of it drove me to look for a solution.

The last ten days we have been applying Thuja cream on all her spots. She now has one clear armpit (the other is still spotty), clear thighs and the ones on her back have gone hard and crusted ready to fall off.

We also bought Thuja pills, incase the cream didnt work fast enough but so far we havent given her any pills. We put the cream on once a day most days, twice a day when we remember.

DS is seven months and so far no sign, butthe first one that pops up with get the Thuja all over it.

Both my children had this. It passes easily from one to the other. We used Molludab and both cases took about 8 weeks from start of treatment to "cure." It seemed like it wasn't working each time and each time they all disappeared quite suddenly. It does sting so I had to bribe mine with sweets!

When my daughter had this I was told that Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream would get rid of them. Within about two weeks of using it they had gone. The thing with molluscum is that you don't know whether the cream worked or they would have gone on their own anyway.

Did you just slather it on top of each one, Suffolk?

DS had lots of small spots around the tops if his legs and on his arms. It took about 10 months for those to go: one big "master" one went and the others quickly followed suite. His seemed v painful

DD caught it, presumably from him, but had a much smaller number of much bigger spots. Hers lasted about 6 months, and again once the biggest one had gone the others went quickly but hers didn't seem to hurt much

Both mine have had this. Ds was 2,had about 3 spots wasn't bothered and neither was I, can't say how long it lasted tbh. Dd has just had it aged 8, it was a bit of a nightmare, changing for games,swimming etc. It was just getting worse and worse and spreading on to her labia. So after extensive googling was started using Epson salts bath daily (for 12 minutes) this seemed to encourage the white "core" to come to the surface. We squeezed a few, others I used the vigorous towel drying technique. Eventually after 2-3 weeks they started to go. I would highly recommend this, although it could be coincidence they were gone within 6 months of apearing and Dd is now not self conscious changing for games or swimming.

Ds had it, luckily non of our others caught it. No sharing baths or towels but it's still highly contagious from what GP told us. Lasted around 14 months and then vanished almost overnight.

Ds had them all over, although his worst was his bum crack. They weren't painful but did get bigger before they went. We didn't know what they were for a long time as they just looked like warts.

Hope it doesn't last too long for your lo.

Just remembered they were itchy ds would scratch them off make his skin bleed and scratch elsewhere which is why his spread so much. So at night use scratch mitts or socks on hands if they bother your lo.

When my children had it the chemist suggested I try a homeopathic remedy called Thuja (not sure about the spelling). My youngest had it particularly badly because the steroid cream we used to treat his eczema caused the viru to spread. I was skeptical but had nothing to lose by trying it....the mollescum cleared up very quickly after that. They hadn't had the spots for very long (2-3 months) so it was unlikely the virus had burnt itself out naturally

Was it the cream you used, Fatman, or the pill things? Can't bring myself to pay money for homeopathy, but Thuja comes up time and again on searches for remedies.

Does squeezing have the same effect as rough towelling? Three of DD's bled this morning after towelling. The Mother Ship is still there though.

My DS had this when he was about 18 months. One huge one on his foot that my idiot STBXH popped (very painful) and a few smaller ones on backs of knees. I treated them with spray Savlon and tea tree oil and they disappeared (maybe coincidence). He's now 5, no new ones for about 2 years but my 18 month DD now has them and they seem to be popping up daily on her neck and torso. I'm hoping they disappear on their own but might try the Thuja mentioned above.
I assume DS still carries the virus so passed it on, but I'm hoping he's built up an immunity, else his sister will end up passing them back to him. Bloody things.

I would advise you to try bathing in Epsom salts cheap as chips and really worked for Dd.

My children had this hideous disease. There is no cure (IME). DD had it for 9 months and while I made sure she didn't touch DS (who had it for 14 months) who was much younger he got it about 6 months after she recovered and he got it all over his face!! It was so traumatic (more for me than them) and they both have scars: deep pitted scars from it. I was and continue to be amazed that it is taken so lightly. If they had been any older (now 8 and 12) it would have been truly devastating for DS's face to be so ravaged. He was 3/4 and I took him out of pre-school rather than risk contaminating another child. I imagine that it doesn't affect every child in the same way because I had never heard of it before or since.

PS I have been told that you do not develop immunity so they could get it again.

Ds had it on his torso. Doc froze off the worst ones and we just left the rest. Ds is now 13 and has some small round scars but other than that he is fine. They just went away of their own accord.

My son had molluscum for a few months on his legs and I decided to try silver nitrate solution and spots cleared up and disappeared after 10days with no scarring. Worth a try.

God I think we got off lightly. Ds was told he had it as did I and my sister when we were kids. Ds only ever had bumpy skin but none of this hideous outbreaks of boils !

DD had it for about 18 months- we think she caught it from sharing a towel with her cousin. She had it mainly on her face and arms. We didn't try doing anything to try to get them off, as she was terrified of them hurting or popping. We kept her arms and body covered , and her teacher made sure she washed her hands before eg holding hands in class activities.

Doctor told us that DD should continue to swim.