MOLLUSCUM BLAH-BLAH????

[MollyMooMin]

Anybody's little ones got this molluscum thingy? They're little warty type things. My DD has them but they seem very red and angry looking today. Any-one know anything?

shrub posted this treatment today

red and angry looking happens just before the disappear IME .. takes about 2 weeks from when they go red

Wow! Thanks twiglett. Apparently,it's supposed to be quite common but I don't see much about it on here.

very common yes .. but for some reason older generation have never heard of it .. weird

has up to a 6 month incubation as well and most likely caught through swimming pools for some reason ..

no, I'd never heard of it until there was a bit of ta-do on mumsnet!

Both of my DS (8 and 4) have them on their chests. DS 1 has had it for several months but it is clearing up slowly. DS2's looks really red today so I'm encouraged by Twiglett's post.

I'm going to try the tea-tree oil tomorrow!

dd2 had them on her knee and legs last year. they have gone now, but she has warts on her hands now that cause more problems. when we tried the salic(sp?) acid to treat them they started to bleed so need to go back to the gp.

A friends of mine little girl had them for a couple of years. They were awful poor mite. Another friend of mine, her child at them too and used something called 'Warts no more'. She got it off the internet from a site called Forces of Nature. Cleared them up in a couple of weeks. So my other friend got some and used it for her little girl who had had it for years and it cleared hers up in about 5 weeks.

dd1 has them on her face, poor love

i used to have these as a child on my hands, i think they were caught at the swimming baths as i used to go a lot.

IIRC my mum used to put some white stuff on them which dried them up and they went but cant remember what it was called, ill ask her later today.

tea tree oil on its own worked on mine.

Miaou- a little girl in my son's class was a heroine when the mollescum on her face finally burst! It was the first time I ever heard either of my sons speak of a girl with genuine admiration.

A word of warning re: treating mollescum- it can really hurt. My boy was traumatised (albeit temporarily) when I tried to clear his first crop on the advice of the sheet I was sent out by the GP. I squeezed just one- pints of cream cheese emerged and a scream of pure pain. My guilt was immense.

DS2(3) had it earlier in the year fro about 4 months. wne to the GP who was very good and her daughter had had it aswell. She said it was common and can be picked up from swimming pools , which made sense as DS has started swimming lessons some months previoulsly.

She offered no treatment as she said that at this age it wasn't fair to the child. I was very careful about towels and nver let my DS1 use the same towel.

It never caused DS2 any problems just a bit unsightnly and I did get concerned when it started spreading . GP said it could last a few months to a few years. Then suddenly it was gone, appeared to disappear overnight.

I din't put any creams on it and left it alone, initally I did try squeezing but it was painful to DS and he would never keep still.

My poor ds has them on his bottom - and the gp said nothing could be done. He scratched one or two which became infected and then the gp gave us antibio cream. He now has a lovely scar on his butt - and still has the molluscum [fume]He's been teased at school for having a 'spotty botty' (some little cow looking way too closely at his nether regions while getting changed for PE

I have squeezed a couple of dd1's that were on her face in the past, when they got really big and unsightly, but one got infected and has left her with a red mark on her face (looks like a permanent spot ) so I'm reluctant to squeeze in case I introduce infection. She's just got a couple of small ones on her face atm and a couple on her neck and she doesn't give two hoots about them, so I am leaving well alone for now.

My dd has had 11 0f them for 18 months on her inner arm. They have driven her wild with itching. 10 of then cleared up eventually on their own and have left scars. the last one we dug out the top of to aid its healing and that has scarred too. My friend's ds had them on his stomach as does my ds. She bit the tops off them to release the virus and his are gone. I have left my ds well alone but his are getting bigger so when they do finally go, that hard white plug thing wil leave a big scar. I think they al leave scars whatever you do or don't do.

my doctor prescribed ds1 (aged 8 at the time) canestan - he had them on his bottom

DS1 had them when he was nine. The GP advised us that they would clear up if left alone, and they did after several months. They did not leave scars. He did have a few nasty comments from other children, but I reminded him that he was exactly the same person that he had always been, and that the spots would go away in time, and that he should not feel bad about himself for having them. I also pointed out that other people had far worse permanent disfigurements. He coped pretty well with the situation. On the contagiousness point, our GP told us that not everyone was susceptible, which was borne out by DS2 and DS3 being completely unscathed (I don't Dettol the bath after use!)

albosmum - did the canestan work?

Both my DD's have had (and one does still have) this - it can flare up very red, then you think it's going away, then it comes back! But a word of warning - I was given fucibet cream to treat it, and I didn't realise that it's steroid based, which thins the skin (it was at the top of DD1's legs) - so it's left some scarring. different GP advised me to try tea tree oil / ointment, which worked well for DD1 and hers have just about gone, but DD2 is still suffering.

All 3 of our LOs have them. DS1 (8) is over the worst and DD (6) never had many while DS2 (3) is absolutely covered in them. His arms are especially bad.

I am pleased to read that once they are red and angry looking that they are on their way out. I read on one site that it can last 9 months to 2 years for some children. DS1 has had them since early summer.

My elder son got molluscum about 2 yrs ago. At the same time, my boss's sone also got it. We took our sone to the GP who told us to leave it and it would disappear in about 1-2 yrs. My boss took his to a private dermatologist who said they should be left. I found a website www.molluscum.com, and this gives a weird device that is extremely expensive. I was feeling a little sceptical but went ahead, and having followed the instructions, the molluscum disappeared completely within 2 weeks. My son said that they hurt when treated, but they vanished without a mark. Meanwhile my boss did as the doctor suggested, and ONE YEAR later asked me what had happened. My sons had no more and his had between 50 and 100 on their bottoms. This is extremely contagious, and on the continent it is treated by GPs with laser (another English friend had this with her girls.) It is easily caught from swimming pools. The GP told us it was endemic. They simply have no cure. If you can look up the website I thoroughly recommend it, bit it is a bit odd, and VERY expensive. Molluscum is easily spread on the genitals via sex and apparently is a real problem at uni (via grown-up stepsons). Good luck.