Talk to me about Molluscum

[PrettyCandles]

Because I think dd may have it.

I've read the official NHS guidelines on it for medics, but want to know what it's like from parents. What can I expect, and is there anything I can do about it, other than wait for 2 years for it to spread around the family before it burns itself out?

My dd's both had it but we didn't (grown-ups!)

It varies from child to child regarding the severity and number etc. so it is hard to say what you should 'expect'

Never spread around the family for some reason. Ds has had it for about 18 months - lots of little hard red lumps. We tried several things and nothing worked. If you find a better solution, I would love to know it expecially as molluscum combined with scabby excema is starting to make people view him as though he had plague (and actually, I see their point).

DS1 had it and no-one else (ie it didn't spread to his little brother). It only lasted for a few months and disappeared all of its own accord. It didn't bother him and, as it was mostly on his bottom, nobody else saw it. I just left it.

I still think that my friend still 'blames' my DS for her DD getting it though to this day! Quite how he is supposed to have done that I don't know.

Do I have to stop bathing them togetyher (6y, 4y, 8m)? It's on her hand, so a nice position for transfering the virus.

No I wouldn't stop anything. We don't even have separate towels (is this disgusting?!). The best thing to do is ignore it. Are you sure it isn't just warts?

my dd had this, all over her hands and forearms (like goosey's son, it was combined with eczema). it did not look nice, but did not bother her or hurt her.

i tried a few things but nothing helped, and it went away on it's own in about 9 months without passing to ds, or anyone else (as far as we know!)

sorry i'm not more help! x

DS2 had it in his armpit and on the back of his knee, and spread it to DS3 (strangely, also the back of his knee). Apparently if you squeeze the lumps, cheesy white stuff comes out but sadly neither boy would let me . It lasted about a year with DS2, less with DS3 - did get itchy and at one point infected in the armpit area - we were prescribed Fucidin, I think. Not nice - but not much you can really do.

dd has it but so far hasn't spread to it both ds's.
They share a bath, I do have seperate towels except when on holiday and they play together.

We were give fuciden cream for ours to stop it getting infected, that was all

Doesn't look good, does it? DD2 had it, for almost a year IIRC, but it went of its own accord and the rest of us didn't catch it, despite sharing towels and what not. She also had warts which eventually disappeared of their own accord.

my dd has this - she's had it for nearly 2 yrs - on & off. The others haven't got it but I just let it be and it'll go eventually.

DS had a few of them on one hand, but they have now spread to face and eyes.

I followed the advice of leaving them alone unless they got near his eyes. But now that they got there and are causing a problem it's taking a time to find a solution.

Looking in retrspective, I wish I had punctured those very few he had on his hand. If I had done, I may not be wondering how on Earth they will manage to remove the ones that are growing in the inside of the eyelid/face without causing scarring. I would have prefered him to have 3 tiny scars in one hand than put DS through this.

But... that's the nice thing about life, you don't get to know what it is going to happen until it does...

Dd2 had molluscum on her arm and face. No one else caught it and it went after about 18mths/2yrs. One or two became inflamed but otherwise they went away of their own accord.

Dr Katherine Short at Kings College Hospital in London has done trials - we participated in one - and these may be ongoing. You could try to contact the Dermatology Dept there if you are in London? One of her papers is here . Average duration of an outbreak is 1.5 years.

Thanks for your replies. IsabelWIRIM - your thread had me worried! But so far it seems that your experience is fairly unusual.

My dd had this when a baby/small toddler and after research on internet for alternative help we used tea tree oil and a tea tree oil cream. This seemed to lessen the outbreaks and it went away over year or so. Think she passed it to one of my mindees despite separate towels (recommended to avoid it spreading) and I have told mindee parent of tea tree oil and seems to be helping.

HTH.

ds has had them for over a year already iirc. they're on his trunk, and backs of knees so not too obvious. they many don't both him but i've noticed in the hot weather some have become inflammed where his waist band rubs.
Prettycandles - he has seperate flannel and towel, but bathes with dd, no-one else in family have 'caught' them
People whose los have grown out of it - how does that happen? do they burst or fade or what???

dd has this, she has had it for about a year or so,its on her side she had one big one which started to itch it got infect and then fell off the other two smaller ones are still there but look to be shrinking, ds has not got it they bath together and share towels ect

they short of scab and shrink then fall of

DD1 had this for about three months last year. DD2 now has it on her legs. Neither of them have experenced any problems, and I haven't teken an precautions regarding seperate hygiene - they always bath together.

They just disappear eventually. No scarring.

I was under the impression that it's one of those viruses that you want them to get as a child, as it could be more serious in an adult or if they are immuno-suppressed?

dd2 had them on her legs when she was 2, by the time she was three they had gone. she also had a wart on the back of her hand, which one day she caught when playing, it started bleeding and then fell off.

dd3 has recently got some on her back. have been told to leave them alone and try not to get the eumovate for her eczema on them.

i am not worried about them, normal part of childhood i think.

Apparently, for some reason they are 'rife' in north yorks (accordingly to my gp)
ds1 had dreadful attack on his bum - they got infected (as of course, sitting on them and wriggling etc knocked them.) 2 years before they went (no scars, even though they were infected!) We tried to squeeze them at one point but ds screamed and screamed with agony...
ds2 has them on his trunk, we squeexed them (he didn't seem to find it very painful at all) and they went relatively fast but he now has them on his neck and I worry about them sreading to his face.
If it is possible for you to prick them (with flame steralised needle amd squeeze the cheese out, then cover with tcp or similar,)I would, as it does seem to make them disappear much more swiftly.

We tried manuka honey which someone on here swore by, to no avail. Similarly tea tree oil, calendula oil and aloe vera, with no success - but no harm in trying.

A friend's dd1 had them on her inner thighs. No one else in the family got them and they disappeared in just less than 2 years without spreading to other parts of her body.

ds has had them about a year now started as three very small spots on his bottom, they started to grow and then more started to appear. I have squeezed/scratched off all the new ones as I wish I had done with the others. The two remaining ones now are really quite large, I'm glad they are where they are as they would be very unsightly anywhere else.He also had the weirdest wart on his thumb with fingerlike projections coming from it, luckily that scabbed and fell off. dd has started with molluscum in her elbow crease, they bathe together and use the same towels. I suspect she got them here because she also has mild excema and often has small areas of broken skin around the area. I am a bit fed up with them but there doesn't seem to be a cure so I suppose it's just wait and see.