Molluscum Help

I personally would seek the advise of a Dermatologist, there are treatments for this condition.

1 mom found this helpful

Two of my children also had this problem. At first I thought my daughter had a terrible diaper rash and I tried everything I could to get rid of it but nothing worked. I took her to a dermatologist and she was diagnosed with molluscum. Believe it not it vanished in 6 months as quickly as it came. My son also had it on his chest and back. His, too, cleared up all on it's own in about 6 months.

1 mom found this helpful

We had the same problem with my 5 1/2 year old son. For him it spread across his entire torso and back and onto his legs. He has a genetic syndrome so I reached out to a support group I am in for this. One response was to give tagamet for a couple of months. Apparently it is sometimes used for planters warts and helps boost the immune system. I presented this to my Dr. and he agreed it might work but wanted to go with 3 month's. Tagamet is actually for reflux so I had to do some explaining to my insurance company to get them to cover it for the molluscum, but it worked wonders. I was so happy to have an answer! I don't know if tagamet can be used for an 18 month old but at least you ould check with the Dr. Good Luck!

for more info, check out

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/molluscum-contagiosum/DS...

caused by a virus in the skin....the bumps are only a symptom, not the actual 'condition"....doesn't sound life threatening but it can spread to other members of the family....so observe good hygene and clean her toys and clothing etc carefully....picking at them will release the virus...causing it to spread even more...

Yes, both of my boys had it. It does go away and I don't really have any helpful hints for you, unfortunately. However, did your doctor tell you that it is contagious? It is not highly contagious, but people who are in very close contact and who haven't been exposed to the virus before can get it. My younger son got it from my older son when they were 4 and 1 (in his diaper area!). She shouldn't be sharing towels with anyone and if you have any other children she shouldn't bathe with them. My older son had one spot in particular that was quite large and the doctor actually just scraped/yanked it off with a small tool when my son wasn't looking. It bled and he screamed; not sure I would recommend that, but it didn't come back. It didn't take two years for my sons' spots to go away, but it was several months and maybe close to one year. I would just try to avoid irritating it--have her wear comfortable, cotton clothing and try not to "catch" anything on the spots. Good luck!

Our son had the same issue where it started on his back and spread to his abdomen. One even had gotten to the size of a pencil eraser. We ended up taking him to a dermatologist and getting a prescription for a cream that cost $100.00. We didn't end up filling the prescription because two days after we saw the dermatologist, the largest one started to crust over and go away. They all disappeared within a month of seeing the dermatologist, without the prescription. The whole ordeal lasted approximately a year and a half. I hope yours doesn't last that long, but know that it can get better!

Hi R.,

My daughter was diagnosed with molluscum at 2 1/2, she's now 4 and she still has it. I guess she has a mild case as she only has 3-4 spots at a time. We have chosen to just let it run it's course, although the dr. did tell us about a treatment that bubbles the virus out of the skin. It sounds painful and can cause scarring, but it may be an option if your daughter is particually bothered by them as it may help a praticular spot to be gone sooner - it doesn't prevent a new spot from forming somewhere else, though.

The only time this bothers my daughter is when a particular spot is ready to be done. Then it grows in size and is very itchy for a couple of days. Of couse my daughter can't leave them alone, so she usually ends up scratching it right off, then we just cover it with a band-aid and in a few days it is healed over. She did have one last summer that was in a bad spot on the back of her leg. We ended up covering it with a little "dot" shaped water-proof band-aid because it was always rubbing on something and irritated. We have also found out that as time goes by, the skin around these areas will tend to be dry and itchy (the dr. said that was very common), so we use lots of gentle lotion to help sooth her skin - especially in the winter.

Her dr. assured us that this condition is not painful and only mildly irritating when the spot becomes itchy.

Good luck!
Chris B.

My daughter and our neighbor children all had this around the same time. Our dr. told us it would run its course in 6 months to a year, and it did. No more signs of it.
It's disconcerting to have anything mar your baby's beauty, but honestly, I can't remember where it all was even though I was really troubled by it at the time.

It is contagious. But it is the very rare and possibly weird child who will refrain from touching and sharing to keep it to themselves!

Hi R.

You need to go to the web site molluscum.com. My 4 year old son had really bad molluscum last spring all over his legs,and some on his arms as well. It got to the stage where I felt I had to cover him up because people wondered what was the matter with him. Anyway, eventually I found the website and decided to give the silver treatment a go. What did I have to lose? I followed all of the advice on the website, and a couple of months later, they had all gone. He has not had any signs of molluscum since. The treatment really does work. Once the sores popped, when we put the liquid silver band aid on them, I think it did sting him a little for a minute, but we persevered and it was well worth it. Good luck!

A.

Hello R.,

My son had molluscum and the doctor pretty much said the same thing--it will get worse before it gets better...and it did get worse, and he ended up with one on his face. I brought him back to the doctor and he said that we could send my son to a dermatologist and they could put an ointment on each little molluscum tag and the ointment would essentially make the molluscum go away. The ointment is not painful and my child does not have any scars. It took a couple treatments of the ointment to make it all go away, but it was well worth it. Hope this helps!

Let it spread and run its course, but it sounds like that's exactly what your doctor told you. Problem solved.

My neice had the same thing. Started out as 2-3 spots, and her primary said it would go away. Unfortunately it spread to over 100 spots and when she went to the Derm they did a treatment and it did go away--that being said, my sis felt terrible that they had to treat 100 spots and not the initial 2-3 as it was uncomfortable to have the treatment. I would get into a Derm and get a second opinion. Good Luck.

Hi R.,

My son is 4 1/2. He has had molluscum for at least the last 2 years. It started close to his armpit, and smaller ones formed around it. I did some research and decided that I didn't want let it take it's course cause he would itch and scratch and break it open.

I finally decided to take him to the dermatologist. He use a medicine called Canthicure. It freezes the molluscum and they eventually fall off like a wart that has been frozen. We have been back to him two more times to have the spots frozen. Although it is very annoying to have the spots, I understand it is a virus which will keep coming back regardless of what treatment is being done.

My recommendation is to take your daughter to the dermatologist and talk to him/her about treatments.

Good Luck,

M. D.

My son had this really bad at the age of 3. The doctor said I could put duct tape on it and rip the volcano type sores off. I was like right !!! I noticed that his skin was just so dry so I started putting Johnsons bedtime lotion on him and within 2 days, it went completely away. The doctor said it was one of the worst cases he had ever seen. It was mostly on his stomach. Now every time his skin starts to get dry I put the lotion on him, and he has never gotten it again. Hope this helps..

My son had the same thing all over his body and when we took them into the doctor he basically said the same thing that it might go away on it's own after a year. We switched over all of our home products to more natural and safe products and his mulescum and my daughter's eczema went away in about 3 weeks. If you would like more information I would be happy to share with you.

A dermatologist should be able to take care of this. It is not contagious but there are chemical treatments to control it.

When our son was 2 he had a patch of molluscum on his arm. We opted to use the medicine/ointment the dermatologist gave us. It cleared up pretty quick.

Good Luck!

Hi,
My daughter has also had I these. At first my aunt told me that her kids had them when they were little and her doctor told her that as soon as she sees one to pick it off. Her doctor told her that if you don't pick them off as soon as you see them then the virus will never go away. I asked my doctor about it and he said the same thing your doctor did about it needing to run it's course. I told him what I had heard about picking them off and he said it was up to me. Ever since then I have always picked them off as soon as I see one and now they are gone. When I wasn't picking them off they would spread and I would start to see more and more. It is really easy to pick them off and it does not hurt. You basically just scrap over them with your fingernail. There should be a little white ball type seed that should come off. That is how you know your got the whole thing. I hope that helps. For some reason over time the doctors are now saying different things regarding them. It just made more sense to me to get them off the body in order to clear the blood of the virus. It worked for us.

My boy got mollescum around 10 months: forehead, torso area, arm, back of knees. We tried early on to freeze them at the doctor's office like a wart. Did not work. I consulted a dermatologist and we tried some creams; did not work. I tried a homeopathic deal: did not work. Finally, I just let it go... They eventually will swell and pop (especially when he got a fever).... clean the area REALLY good, wash your hands. He has a little scar where each bump was. The bumps are all gone now.

Feel free to contact me with questions or if you want more details.
Deb.

Tea tree essential oil. Pick it up at your local health food store. Apply directly to the skin. Try it! It will not only get rid of the spots but also keep it from spreading. Use it at least three times a day.