Molluscum Contagiosum

[tomhazard]

My DD age 6 was diagnosed with this 6 weeks or so ago by a GP who said there was nothing we could do about it and it would go away by itself but we might wait quite a long time.
When we first took her to the GP it wasn't very red, just the spots. In the last couple of weeks it looks worse, she is scratching at it and some are kind of bloody. Theese are under her armpit but now there are a few on her upper torso too. I've put a pic up , wondered if this is a normal stage or if I should take her back to the Gp. I've also looked at buying Molludab- is it worth it? Or anything else? Thanks

They are the most vile things! My experience with my DD was that, rather like veruccas, you just have to wait until the body fights it off. DD has hers for 18 months in very visible places eg. arms, not great. Then she got some kind of fever and sickness bug which also had a rash afterwards. As the rash cleared, so did the molloscum! I had previously tried picking the ‘king’ one etc, all to no avail.

Thanks! Perhaps I just need to be patient. Apart from the fact it occasionally itches she is not too bothered about them. They are under her armpit mostly so no one much else can see them. I just feel bad for her and worry that they will spread

My daughter had Molluscum on her legs it took around a year to clear it’s an awful virus which made me paranoid about the rest of the family catching it as it’s highly contagious . I tried all sorts of remedies but nothing worked diluted tea tree burnt her skin . Molluscum is very itchy but scratching leads to spreading . It’s taken a long time but my daughter is clear of it , we popped a few of them & remover the core to try & get her immune system going . I also gave her Sambucol twice a day , the pharmacist recommended Eurax cream to relieve the itching . Make sure that your family use their own towels & flannels & if you are treating the skin wash your hands thoroughly
So sorry I couldn’t give positive advice but Molluscum sucks

My advice would be not to leave it! Our GP also said it would run its course on its own. My dd is 4 and has had it for almost a year. It started on one arm and then gradually spread so it covered over half her body.
It gets so sore and inflamed and I regularly have to apply antibiotic ointment to the infected ones.
I got some molludab over the counter a few months ago from the pharmacy but it stings and she wouldn't let me near them with it so I gave up. It has got so bad that I made the decision to put it on at night when she is asleep and I am at last seeing an improvement!
We still have a long way to go but no new ones have appeared lately. I really wish I had tried it sooner. Her skin is so damaged and I'm praying that it doesn't scar too much, at a guess she has several hundred of them

Thanks for your advice all. FluffyDavis I am sorry to hear that your DD has it so badly at the moment. I have just bought some molludab as I guess it's worth a try. What a crappy little virus.

My dd had it when she was about 8. It was mostly on her back and armpits, and I was also told it'd go away by itself after a year or two.

After a while though they did start to bother her so I took her back to the GP and he put a solution on a couple of them, which was quite painful, and left the rest.
It seemed like within only a couple of weeks or so after this the spots suddenly seemed to disappear very quickly (and all at once).

I'm not sure if this solution triggered something or if it was a coincidence that the spots disappeared.

Our daughter had a similar experience. Some of her spots had become infected with staph, which is presumably quite common due to all the irritation, scratching etc. An antibiotic cream helped, and they cleared up soon after that.

Yes my dcs had them for 2 years. They still have lots of little holes on their torsos

When my grandson had this a few years ago it was when some of the spots started to get red and sore that it actually started to clear up. Maybe because his body started to fight off the virus? Once it did start to clear up the spots went quite quickly so hopefully this is true for your DC too?

My youngest DS has had this for about a Year now. Horrible little buggers, but we were told to leave them and they haven't spread too much luckily.

The virus is contained within the central cheesy plug of each lesion. If that gets scratched and dragged across the skin then the virus will spread. The best thing to do is use emollients for the skin to be well moisturised thus lessening the need to scratch.
It can take around 18 months for molluscum virus to leave the skin and within that time the spots may go and recur until the immune system has kicked he virus out of the shallow dermis layers.
Because it is immune mediated then children with a lowered immunity are also more prone to this virus. If they take steroids or have a medical history of immune skin conditions it may take longer for them to eradicate the virus.
Treatment of molluscum can cause scarring worse than the effect of the virus itself so it is best practice to leave alone.

Look at the Chuckling Goat website. There is a quote there from a mother saying it helped her daughter's MC.

As it's immune related (learn something new every day) then the Kefir products could help as they're supposed to help boost and fortify. You could try their lotions even if you don't want to try the drink.

There are a number of treatments for molluscum but doctors are reluctant to recommend any - well that was our experience and seems to be for most on this forum.

It was hard to stop the spread of molluscum across our youngest child's body and then to our other children though mostly because we made the mistake of at first listening to our doctor who gave us no more advice than leave the bumps alone. We then tried several ointments that are available online including molludab which is a hydroxide based lotion hence the sting (more burning) and mollenol which is an essential oil formulation.

Our conclusion is that molluscum can be controlled and beaten but you need get on top of it quickly ... hope this helps others. :D

I think you just need to wait and be patient - they will go away on their own.
My dd had this on her arms for around 8 months. It quite suddenly cleared up a month or so after this picture was taken.