Seeking Help for Son's Skin Condition

My 4 year old was diagnosed with the same thing. His are very sporadic now. The doctor told me they won't ever go away, rather they will come and go. It's like warts. He has them on his stomach and chest. The doctor told me we could freeze them off, but since they don't bother him I decided not to do that.

I know it doesn't help much, but this this the second item I saw about this condition. I wanted to let you know you are not alone.

A little about me: SAHM, married 12 years and two boys ages 8 (soon to be nine) and 4 (soon to be 5)

P.S. My son just tells everyone that he has a virus on his belly. . . .

I asked my dermatologist about this condition this summer since my pediatrician kept saying, "It will go away on it's own."......and it didn't. My dermatologist said to have my 3.5 yrs son take a shower instead of a bath.

Unless you bleach/Clorox/or Lysol the bathtub after EVERY SINGLE bath your child takes............they will keep re-infecting themselves w/ their own virus.

So, since I only really clean the bathtub w/ Clorox a couple times a week, but he bathes almost nightly..........he now takes showers & is perfectly happy doing so. PLUS - he's down to one little spot on his side & it's going away!!

Never heard of the condition, but try this, it's simple and all natural, put a cup of baking soda in his bath water...it was the only thing that helped by dauther, who is 2, sooth and get ride of her, pretty bad, eczema...what the heck, it's worth a try:) God Bless, TammyT and Brooke Jolie...

My friend's son had this condition. One pedi told her that it would go away on its own, another told her to have them burned off. Her son was 7, no way was she going to have them burned off! She tried Arbonne Cleansing Gel. She bathed him in it daily. In two weeks, the bumps disappeared and have never come back. It's been a year now. I would be happy to give you more info! If interested, you can email me or order online, www.arbonne.com, my id # is 17103453. Good luck!

i RESEARCHED THIS A LITTLE HERE IS WHAT I FOUND...
Individual molluscum lesions may go away on their own and are reported as lasting generally from 6 to 8 weeks,[2] to 2 or 3 months.[3] However via autoinoculation, the disease may propagate and so an outbreak generally lasts longer with mean durations variously reported as 8 months,[2] to about 18 months,[4][5] and with a range of durations from 6 months to 5 years.[3][5]

Treatment is often unnecessary[6] depending on the location and number of lesions, with no single approach shown to be convincingly effective.[7] Nonetheless, treatment may be sought after for the following reasons:

Molluscum lesions on an arm.Medical issues including:
Bleeding
Secondary infections
Itching and discomfort
Potential scarring
Chronic keratoconjunctivitis
Social reasons
Cosmetic
Embarrassment
Fear of transmission to others
Social exclusion
Many health professionals recommend treating bumps located in the genital area to prevent them from spreading.[5] The virus lives only in the skin and once the growths are gone, the virus is gone and the virus cannot be spread to others. Molluscum contagiosum is not like herpes viruses, which can remain dormant in the body for long periods and then reappear. Thus, when treatment has resulted in elimination of all the bumps, the infection has been effectively cured and will not reappear unless the patient is reinfected. [8] In practice, it may not be easy to see all of the molluscum contagiosum bumps. Even though they appear to be gone, there may be some that were overlooked. If this is the case, one may develop new bumps by autoinoculation, despite their apparent absence.

[edit] Betadine
There are a few treatment options that can be done at home. Betadine surgical scrub can be gently scrubbed on the infected area for 5 minutes daily until the lesions resolve (this is not recommended for those allergic to iodine or betadine). However, the ability of iodine to penetrate intact skin is poor, and without a pin prick or needle stick into each molluscum lesion this method does not work well. Do not use on broken skin.

[edit] Astringents
Astringent chemicals applied to the surface of molluscum lesions to destroy successive layers of the skin include trichloroacetic acid, podophyllin resin, potassium hydroxide, and cantharidin.[9]

[edit] Australian lemon myrtle
A 2004 study demonstrated over 90% reduction in the number of lesions in 9 out of 16 children treated with 10% strength solution of essential oil of Australian lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora).[10] However the oil may irritate normal skin at concentrations of 1%.[11][12]

[edit] Tea tree oil
Another essential oil, tea tree oil is reported to at least reduce growth and spread of lesions when used in dilute form.[13]

[edit] Over-the-counter substances
For mild cases, over-the-counter wart medicines, such as salicylic acid may shorten infection duration. Daily topical application of tretinoin cream ("Retin-A 0.025%") may also trigger resolution.[14][15] These treatments require several months for the infection to clear, and are often associated with intense inflammation and possibly discomfort.

[edit] Imiquimod
Doctors occasionally prescribe Imiquimod, the optimum schedule for its use has yet to be established.[16] Imiquimod is a form of immunotherapy. Immunotherapy triggers your immune system to fight the virus causing the skin growth. Imiquimod is applied 3 times per week, left on the skin for 6 to 10 hours, and washed off. A course may last from 4 to 16 weeks. Small studies have indicated that it is successful about 80% of the time

[edit] Systemic treatments
Cimetidine (however, double blind placebo studies seem to refute this[17]), Griseofulvin (single case, anecdotal evidence) and Methisazone have seen some use.[18]

[edit] Non-medicinal treatment
The viral infection is limited to a localized area on the topmost layer of the epidermis[citation needed], specifically, the head of the lesion. Once the virus containing head of the lesion has been destroyed, the infection is gone.

One way to destroy the head of the lesion is to use over the counter wart treatments to freeze the lesions. While this is effective, it may result in permanent discoloration of the skin. Another, more localized treatment is to burn the head of the lesion. This may be accomplished by holding a pin with a pair of pliers, heating the pin over a stove till glowing, and touching the tip of the pin to the lesion. It is important to consult with a dermatologist before attempting a home remedy.

The infection can also be cleared without medicine if there are only a few lesions. First, the affected skin area should be cleaned with an alcohol swab. Next, a sterile needle is used to cut across the head of the lesion, through the central dimple. The contents of the papule are removed with another alcohol swab. This procedure is repeated for each lesion (and is therefore unreasonable for a large infection). With this method, the lesions will heal in two to three days.[citation needed] One purported remedy is to apply spray-on plaster daily to trigger a reduction in spots, first by becoming crusty and then disappearing.[citation needed]
HOPE THAT THIS HELPS SOME

My dd had some of these bumps last year and was really hard for her b/c they were on her Face. Well the doctor told us it was MC and referred us to a dermatologist but the wait was 3 months. I decide to buy Silver Cure on the internet. Let me tell you it was the best thing to do. I had her schedule appointment w/ the dermatologist but by that time her MC had cleared up. I hope this helps some of you others out there that have struggle w/ MC.
Good luck

my son had it, and it does go away on its own, but can take a year and a half, and by that time it could spread to other places.... so we got a cream for it, and it worked! can't remember what it was but your pedi can tell you. some people get them "burned" off, and apparently it is not painful, but i thought would be too traumatic for my son at his young age. and to sit still for the whole thing, as he had so many lesions (ug, don't like that word. good luck

Hi M.,

My son has this too. Our pediatrician said to go to a website called www.mulluscum.com There is a treatment that they sell that is the only stuff that seems to work. We bought some and have not used it as yet. I noticed a couple of days ago that they are gone anyway.

I hope this helps.

W.

My daughter had this and our dermatologist said it was highly contagious and would take them off every time. I don't know if you want to do that but it did control them and it sounds like maybe it is spreading.

Hi M.,

Yes, you can take your child to any pediatricial or preferably a pedi dermatologist and they can freeze them. The treatment is very similar to that of a wart. They will freeze it and it will dry up and get a little crusty, but it goes away. Also, make sure that your child does not try to scratch them cause they are contagious. Both my children had this and had it for a long time until I took them to Texas Children's Derm dept. The treatment took all but about 10 minutes. In the end your son may be able to tell where these were visibily on his skin because like any scratch or irritated bite, it can leave a mark. But, they are very tiny and hardly visible. We will see it cause we know its there. Many MDs will choose to leave it alone, but it takes months to heal and can spread in the meantime to other parts of the body or to others.

Good luck!

I would use a natural skin treatment like melagel. It is kind of like the consistency of Neosporin. It is GREAT and can help it heal. If you are interested, let me know and I will tell you where you can get it.

Blessings,
M.
Mom to 5 Wonderful Kids
www.4MyChildrenSake.com

Both of my sons had this when they were toddlers. With a little patience, they will go away on their own. Just keep them clean. There were a couple that bothered me that I put wart remover on. It didn't seem to make a difference, they all seemed to go away at the same time. I know they look bad, but they will go away. Before they actually go away, they may erupt and get bloody and gross, but that just means they are going away. I would not spend a lot of money on treatments unless they are in a bad place. They will go away. My sons' never came back. They are 12 and 5 now. Be patient.

My son also had this a few years back. Our pedi prescribed Retin A I believe it was. We were only to put it directly on the bumps. It made his skin look horrible (basically burnt,) but it did get rid of it. You might mention that to your MD.

I would try another derm. until you find one that will treat the bumps. Burning (or freezing) them off similar to warts, will make them go away much faster, and there is a cream that will speed up the process. We see Dr. Metry at TCH in the med center.

hey there we might be under the same umbrella.. se i have a 10 year old girl and se has something like it first the doctor said eczema and prescribed DESONIDE CREAM 0.05% (it cost like $ 70 dollars) that was like in april or may now like three days ago we notice that she scrach too much so another trip to the same doc (because the first cream did work) so this time its diferent like rash and it prescribes another cream PERMETHRIN CREAM ,5% (this ones its like $ 31 dollars ) (all in wal-mart ok) maybe if you tel your doctor this about this meds he can tell you if they are the one ...good luck.

I'm glad you asked that question - I want to know the answer as well!
J.

Hi M. - There is a book by Deirdre Earls that is fantastic! You can look up her website: yourhealingdiet.net

Hope this helps!

K.