Anyone Else Deal with This?

My son had it, too. Retin A didn't work, popping them made them spread all over his torso, so for almost 2 years, we just left them alone. Then another Dr. at our Pediatrician's office told us to "irritate" the bumps. She suggested taking a clean wash cloth out of the washer, letting it air dry (to give it a rougher texture) and rubbing the bumps vigorously for a few seconds to stimulate the immune response. This seemed to work - unless it was a coincidence and it had run its course. :) We had also gotten the suggestion of tea tree oil, and that would have been our next step had they not gone away. He ended up with pock marks, but luckily, no one caught it from him. Good luck!

My daughter had this a couple of months back. She had it for about 8 months (our doc said from 5 -18 months) Anyway; you can treat it, however that may lead to scaring. We just left it. The most important thing I can day is do not let him scratch it. The contagiosum is (contagious)it spreads very easy. If he is scratching it he will spread it more. If he rubs against family (kids) or friends. Playing football or wrestling they can get it. It is all gone now and there is no sign it was ever there.

Hi H., my 4 yr old has it. We just recently found out what it was, my doctor told me it was warts but after seeing a dermatologist found out that it was Moluscum Contagiosum. Who told you it lasts 5-8 months? Whoever told you that was very wrong. My son has had it about 2 years, and it can last as long as 10 years. It's very contagious but can only be passed if one of the bumps breaks open and touches something. My son has it all around his left eye, around his nose under his chin and on his neck, and some around his right eye. He also has a few on one of his hands. It's only getting worse so we're hoping it goes away soon. Our 3 yr old now has 2 also, one on his foot and one on his back. We thought about surgery but don't want to put him through that right now. We have a prescription to get the cream and see if that works but it's pretty expensive so I'm waiting on that. I have a good webisite that explains a lot about that, but not sure where it is right now. If you're interested PM me and I'll look for it.

My son has also had molluscum. The first time the Dr. gave us retin A cream which irrated the virus and worked to get rid of it. He now has it for the second time (years later) and the retin A hasn't been affective. Our pediatrician said it will eventually run the course and go away, but does take a while. I also understand that it is a very common virus which you can pick up anywhere...grocery store carts, locker rooms, pools. It's also contagious so make sure that your kids are not sharing towels etc.

Ellen gave you good advice.I had this. My doctor said its more common to see it in young kids. It went away for me i about a year. also, I never got the impression it was rare. Don't sweat it. :)

All my kids have had it at different times. My doctor informed me that it is only contagious to the person that already has them. Children with dry skin are more prone to it. My doctor put some stuff on it to make them go away, it is some liquid (actually from Canada). Only one of my kids had that, the other ones I popped the little pimple like warts. That did make them go away faster, my kids only had them for a few months. It hurts to pop them. After a bath is the best time. They also leave pock marks. All my kids have at least one pock mark from them, very small and not very noticable unless you are examining their skin.

Hi H.,

My 6 year-old son got this in January along with the chicken pox but it wasn't diagnosed until late April. He has them all over his body. He has to return to the dermatologist every two to three weeks for treatment on any new bumps since his last visit. The dermatologist is using beetle juice on each bump like wart removal. They say it could take up to a year for them to stop appearing so we're in it for the long haul. My son hates the treatments but I tell him that that's the only way to get rid of them. If you hear of any better way, please let me know. Good Luck.

Hi H.,
My daughter had that for close to two years on and off. Finally, when we were just about to treat it (with some sort of insect venom..I can't remember exactly but it really freaked me out so I didn't want to do it) they all went away. It seemed that if I was able to pick out the little white head type core of the spot, it would go away. Luckily my daughter was very good about letting me do this and only seemed to hurt a little when I finally managed to grab onto the thing and pull it out. Once I did that though, that spot would disappear for good.
Hope this helps-good luck!!

Hi H.,

They thought my daughter had this, turns out she didn't (it ended up being a cyst underneath her eye). But it's not that rare, it's just not talked about that often mostly because for adults, it's considered a form of an STD (not for kids)

It's easy to catch from other kids on toys, direct contact, or especially if another one of your kids has it and the kids bathe together - that's an easy way to catch it as well.

I don't know where your son's lesions are located, but I read about alot of success for people who used "Liquid bandage" over the lesions. It eventually dried them all out.

There's some good parent information on message boards actually based out of Australia called "well baby" (google molluscum and parent and message board and Australia).

Treatment, you want to keep your other kids from sharing towels, baths, toys, etc. They can be scraped off by a dermatologist, depending where they are at you want to make sure you get the "core" out of the lesion. If you don't, it will come back and if the core touches other skin, the rash will go there as well. Good luck.

Drs that treat is are Dermatologists. The pediatricians usually have a "wait and see" approach to them.

Good Luck!

Dear H.,

i have not heard of this type of rash.

But, i myself have eczema and sometimes it flares up when the season change in may & october.

My advice is that you should go to walgreens or some store like that and in the first aid isle look and just read for the following.....

Blue star ointment
black & white ointment
a & d ointment
and desitin

i know these products are all good agents in fighting rashes. You will have to do a little research to determine which one is best for your child.

Mom, good luck in combating the rash!

H., my son had molluscum contagiosum a couple of years ago. He is a wrestler, which may be where he picked it up, but the doctor gave us a note for tournaments telling the coaches/referees that he was NOT contagious, and could continue wrestling. It was not treated, just allowed to run its course. We were told not to pick the spots, as that would result in scarring. It took 16-18 months, but all the spots went away and he has no lasting effects from it. Our son is now 9-y/o. None of the rest of our family members got it, and neither did any of his friends. Good luck!

If you have not done so, I would talk to a derm. After many trips to the ped. for other kinds of skin rashes, I have found the derm. is the best place to go.

My daughter (age 8) had this on her inner thighs and got a bunch of the spots. Our family doc said that it would run it's course, but that it would help if my daughter could pick off the biggest spot. That tells the virus that the body doesn't want it anymore. She picked it off (we of course cleaned the spot so it wouldn't get infected, and sure enough, the spots were gone within a couple of weeks after she did that. The doctor said that she could remove the biggest spot (or even more spots), but she preferred not to do that. And she said tha the ointment that is sometimes used might be too harsh for a child.
It will go away, so don't despair.

Hi, Yes my daughter went through this when she was around 5 years old. (10 yo now) The Dr. told us it was warts and contagious (obvious from the name). we had to use cream and it did run its course and she was over it. She has not had it since. My other daugther (1 yr older) never did get it.
We do have one scar from this on the side of her neck. We just call it her birth mark and she is ok with it. One of the warts was in a small crease area on her neck and it became infected - there is NO pigment coloring and they say probably never will be. She had around 5-6 spots. We do not know how we picked this up - and that no one else in the family got it. Thank goodness,
It did take several months for it run its course.
She never complained of any discomfort. We just had to make sure and use the cream...
B. Fred

Hello,

I had this when I was doing my student teaching. I was told that children carry this viral rash and they might not show symptoms they just pass it on. However, in order to get rid of the rash they had to use liquid nitrogen and freeze the area and it hurt.

We just had these treated by a dermatologist on my 6 year old son. I had never heard of it, but he said most people get it when they are young and never even know they had it. They might have one small spot on their body - think it is just a pimple. Ours have been there for 6 months, and it could take another year for them to go away. They were treated with the "beetle juice" a few weeks ago, but did not go away. Doc said it sometimes takes more than one treatment. It does hurt a little as they start to crust and heal. Just be sure to use a little neosporin on it while it heals (if you get it treated), and put bandaids over them for the first couple of days so they don't rub on things. Good luck!

H.,
I may have limited experience with molluscum...our pediatrician (1st visit) said my 2 year old had it on her backside and upper legs. He did not want to treat it as he thought she scrathed off the 'white heads' of the warts and they might be on their way out. However, her itching kept getting worse...which made him think that maybe it could be something else. Second doc visit, he suggested just keeping the affected area moist to prevent ithcing, with Aquaphor and washing her with antibacterial soap. My daughter's itching persisted...and by the 3rd visit (in 40 days) he started to think that maybe she developed a skin infection due to all this itching. (therefore, maybe she had mollusum, but she itched it so badly, it turned into an infection.) Long story short... a second opinion, led us to get antibiotic cream, and hydrocortisone (which can, at times, make the actual molluscum virus worse) prescription and that was what finally worked. In the end, my daughter may have started out with molluscum, but ended up with a skin infection that need treatment via prescription creams. I obviously did some research into molluscum and some doctors say its rare while others say its common. This pediatrican said he sees this virus a few times a month in his office. Not sure if this helps at all, but since this was recently an issue for us, wanted to respond with what I experienced/knew/heard. Good luck! M.

All four of my kids and myself had it several years ago. We went to a dermatologist. I found waiting for it to "go away" only had more come up. The dermatologist froze the area with a freezing spray and scraped them off. It took a long while for them to all be gone. It is a virus in your system and when the others are gone some may still pop up. My oldest is 14 yrs. old now and we dealt with his for about 7 years. He wasn't covered in them but he would still get a couple here and there in those 7 years. They don't have to be popped to spread. Definitely, use a separate towel for your child. I would recommend finding a good dermatologist for these. Good luck. They are a pain, but they won't last forever if treated.

Hi H.
Yes it is a pain! My children are 7,4&1. The two older children caught this rash molluscum from a cousin. And it lasted almost 2 years. But I wised up with the second case and did not wait for it to go away. Because it will spread& scare. And it is contagoius to others including adults. I had my pedietrician burn them off with dry ice. This worked! You may need to do this more than once but at least you won't have for 2 yrs or worry about giving it to others this summer! jm

I did not read all of the responses so you might have already been given this advice....My daughter had this when he was just over a year old. The pediatrician said that we needed to irritate the bumps. He suggested compound w (even though the bumps were a virus not a wart). He suggested using a small amount once a day until the area around the bump was red. The irritation stimulates the bodys immune system to fight the virus. The bumps were small and on her hand. We didn't have to do it very long and the bumps went away and did not return. We thought that they might be contagious but her twin sister did not get it and they usually share everything! Good Luck.

Hi H.,
Yes my son had it and it seemed to last forever. He is a wrestler and they thought he got it from the mats or another child. At first they looked like little pimples, so my son kept picking at it and just made it worse as it spread all over his torso, his legs and arms, and his face behind his ears. At first they froze some, but they only came back. It has to run the course.
The biggest thing is to get get a good chemical free soap and laundry soap. I had that part, I am a prefered customer and marketing exec with Melaleuca so the MelaPower Laundry Detergent, Antibacterial liquid soap, and Gold Bath Bar products we had were perfect for him to use. It is contagious so keeping it moist was also important, he used the Renew lotion which kept it from getting dry and itchy. I believe that it stay in the system for years after, but he only had one bout with it about 3 years ago. It lasted most of the season and then just left. No scars or trace of him having it at all.
Just remember to keep the clothes and towels cleaned. He used different towels everytime he showered (in wrestling that was several times a day) and used the Gold Bar or Citrus (that is what he likes) Antibacterial soap each time.

I actually caught this when I was a Head Start teacher. It is highly contagious, so since you have other kids, I would probably recommend getting it treated. I went to my doctor, and she removed them. It is a painful process, but there was no scarring. First, they pick out the center, and then they freeze the area. Good Luck!

I have not had experience with this, but it sounds like a the same rash that my friend had and the doctor told her the same thing. She was able to get rid of it in a month or two, but she acredits it to the supplements that she is on. If you would like more info let me know ____@____.com luck, G. Chambers