Advice about Molloscum please

[rosealbie]

I am pretty certain my dd has molloscum and just has a small clump of 5 spots on her torso. Do I need to take her to see a doctor? Will they/can they do anything?

I've looked at past threads and it doesn't seem clear on them if it is contagious in water. Should dd go swimming and do I need to tell her pre-school?

Thanks.

Drs won't do anything as its more painful to burn them off than to leave them.
I reckon they are picked up in swimmming pools but i'm not sure and if you stayed out of the pool for the duration your DD may miss swimming for years.
I've heard suggested Tea Tree Oil is good. Personally I fing picking them until they are irritated speeds up the process.
I know they itch and all of a sudden one at a time they'll get inflamed and then burst then go away but it may take years.
I have personal experience. The DDs didn't get them. I did!

I think one or two of my dd's have either scratched off or burst and bled a little bit. Should I wipe them with tea tree or leave them when this happens?

I might try bursting them but will this make them spread even if I disinfect each one?

although if you squeeze them before they are ready it will hurt. Tea tree is a sort of disinfectant so wil help stop spread.

Do they tend to get bigger when they are ready to squeeze? These are still quite small. Don't seem to be too itchy.

yes. they'll grow and go red and itchy. then when scratched they'll burst and bleed spectacularly, then scab and fall off.
nice

OK, thanks for advice. As they are in a fairly inconspicuous place at the moment I am not really worried and they don't seem to bother her. My mian worry is that they will begin to appear in other places.

What's the best way of avoiding this?

That's exactly what's happened to DS2. Started with a small patch in the crease of one arm, now all up one side and starting to spread across his tummy. Some are really horrible. I took advice from a post a few months ago and squeezed some but they are now like red welts, so not convinced this has been beneficial.

I personally think they are spreading through bathtime because they are HIGHLY infectious. So using one towel probably doens't help. But it is so hard to be fastidious when you're running round after kids.

So do you mean that if the tops of each spot are broken then they can spread at bathtime to others?

Does the child spread them around their own body this way or is it internal and they will just appear?

if the tops aren't broken you can put on comfrey cream

it is the only thing that has any real effect on molluscum

you can buy it over the counter at boots

but it must not be put on broken or scratched spots

you may be lucky if you catch it early

Right I shall get some tomorrow! What should I put on the broken spots if anything.

I have seen Elizabeth Arden's Eight hour cream recommended and have a tube but am guessing this is meant for unbroken spots too.

Sorry for all the questions but there seems to be loads of different advice out there.

not sure about broken spots ..I would say savlon to prevent infection or vaseline to seal it all up

Hi, DD1 had these warts for almost a year and then DD2 got them for and is only just losing them after about 1.5-2 years.

DO NOT SQUEEZE these spots unless you absolutely have to. I did on both DD's when I thought the area was going septic (and before I learnt that that's how the spots look on my DD's before they 'burst', bleed and go) and it got both of them HYSTERICAL with pain. My take on the matter is that the infectious white core of the molloscum is hard to squeeze out and way more painful than a normal spot that you and I would happily squeeze, without probably evening wincing.

The other thing is that I tried practically every suggested cure known and nothing worked. I now think that there is nothing you can do apart from to let them run their course and to try as much as possible to prevent the contagious spots (ie. the ones that have broken skin) from coming in contact with other children (ie. long sleeved t'shirts, no bathing with friends, sharing towels and sponges etc.)

Both of mine had a lot of them (DD2 looks like she's recovering from chickenpox still). They are horrid, repulsive things but you eventually learn to leave them well alone, even if you can't igore them and just hope that they aren't going to hang around too long. Try the various 'cures' if you feel you have to try something but in my experience if it does appear to work, then probably the warts were on their way out anyway.

She has only had them for a few weeks. I think I will try the comfrey cream but not squeeze. Thanks everyone for your replies, they are indeed horrible things but I would love to get my hands on them and squeeze!

I know they're tempting aren't they? In answer to your Q, it is the white bit that is very contagious, so they are spread externally.

dd2 has had them for over a year now

we had a problem with them whne they got infected but antibiotics sorted it

can't stand them

did you get the comfrey?

I didn't get any comfrey as the Boots near to my work didn't have any, they don't stock it apparently. Was going to look in Culpeppers but ran out of time. Will try again tomorrow.

I thought they must spread externally, thanks for the clarification climbanymountain.