Our 8yr old son has molluscum contagiosum and is on about week 2 of it. I never heard of it before last week. All of a sudden he had about a dozen bumps on his bottom, they didn't really itch he said, maybe hurt a little. We had our suspicions that's what they were and upped the cleaning routine and watched them to see if they were getting better or at least not getting worse for a week. All of a sudden a day or two ago they started showing up on his arm, knees, etc.

We went to the urgent care and the doctor confirmed its molluscum contagiosum, not much you can do, best of luck, etc. I immediately bought bleach and started bleaching everything he touches, towels, sheets, clothing, etc.

Our son most likely got it during the school summer program. It has a TWO MONTH INCUBATION PERIOD! Wife talked to a colleague in Hawaii about it, his son got it from visitors, it went through their whole family. There are two approaches, one is leave it alone and treat the symptoms and it will spread everywhere and go away after several MONTHS. The other is go to a dermatologist and have them nuke them, scrape them, be aggressive and get the cores out, etc. and it will spread everywhere, maybe not as bad, and go away after several MONTHS. First available dermatologist appointment is mid-September.

Anybody else been down this path? Recommendations? This makes Coronavirus look like nothing. I'm envisioning myself scratching these bumps all over my self in 2 months during deer season. SOS! HELP!

My 5 yo (almost 6) had it most of the last year. Probably 8 months. Doctor said it could take up to a year. It was uncomfortable at times for him occasionally but most of the time he was fine. They really didn't seem to bother him except when one would get inflamed or scratched. They did not seem to itch him much and he didn't seem to scratch them out of habit or anything.

We put lotion/Aquaphor on him regularly and we did do some oatmeal baths occasionally but those don't actually make anything go away. It just has to run its course. The individual bumps get worse right before they go away it seemed.

I made absolutely zero effort to prevent myself from getting it and I did not, nor did my wife or other son. We bathed the kids tovether for some of the time while he had it but then limited that after discovering what it was.

That's reassuring. He scratches them, I tell him not to, he does it anyway. We showed him a pic of it getting all over someone's face because he touches his face all the time, he immediately washed his hands.

My 4 year old has had it for several months and seems to be starting to get over it.

Sometimes itchy, a few of the bumps have gotten mildly infected from being scratched by dirty little kid hands. So far it hasn't spread to anyone else in the family.

It seems to be a pretty common nuisance that you can't really do anything about but also generally isn't a big deal.

My daughter went through this as a toddler. The bumps finally went away on their own, after the dermatologist prescribed some kind of cream...don't remember now what it was. No one else in the family had a problem, and now 7-9 years later the infected areas look normal. Hope you have a similar experience.

Tommy got it last year probably from the karate mats at his dojang...they were on the insides of his knees...he’s 11 so it was easy to figure them out...his didn’t itch...the doc said to keep him clean and to let the school know. So they cleaned all the mats several times and no one else got it.

We just let it be, and after a month or so they all went away...no special salves, we did use Vaseline/aquaphor to seal it while he was doing karate so he wouldn’t possibly spread it anymore.

Molluscum is self limiting, usually. It can sometimes last up to two years before his immune system clears it. They can sometimes leave a pock mark where they were growing, but most of the time, you will have no scarring.

There are different methods of treating it. Some people try herbal remedies, with Zymaderm, Tea Tree Oil, or other techniques before using harsher irritants like African Great Horned Beetle juice, or surgical options, like curettage or burning them off with heat or freezing. There are some experimental treatments involving injecting tuberculin protein directly into the lesions to make the body start a local reaction that would spread to other lesions, or oral antacids like cimetidine.

If it's rapidly spreading, particularly on his face, get in with a pediatric dermatologist. Try to keep him from picking at them. One of the most common complications is cellulitis or maybe even impetigo, when they dig their very clean 8 year old fingernails into the lesions and cause local infections that need to be treated with antibiotics.

My brother's kids had it, we saw them for a pool day at my parents and had no idea what it was, they shared towels with our kids for 3 days and 2 months later year my kids had it.

We nuked it, went to dermatologist and had them frozen and scraped. It stopped immediately and I was glad with our approach. Not sure if you are catching it soon enough though to stop it like we did.

I would not let it fester for a damn year, that is torture

quote:

Originally posted by 9mm_shooter:
Some people try herbal remedies, with Zymaderm, Tea Tree Oil, or other techniques

I don't know about this issue in particular, but I've found tea tree oil products to be very effective with various skin issues. And no, I'm not one of those "essential oils cure everything" types of hippies.

Despite regular showering (often 2x-3x a day), I used to get heat rash, jock itch, etc. on a regular basis as a result of being hot and sweaty in uniform all day during the summers (especially under the vest, since we wore concealable vests under our uniforms at the time).

After some research, I switched to a soap containing tea tree oil, and have not had any problems in years.

The brand I use is called "Defense Soap", and was originally created for wrestlers and other martial artists who are frequently hot and sweaty, and frequently in contact with used mats and sweaty fellow athletes, so are therefore highly susceptible to these type of skin issues.

Might be worth checking out. May not totally cure the current issue, but might help, and continued use may prevent a second future infection.

Check out https://www.defensesoap.com/, but I just order mine through Amazon. (I prefer the peppermint scented version.)

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by 9mm_shooter:
Some people try herbal remedies, with Zymaderm, Tea Tree Oil, or other techniques

I don't know about this issue in particular, but I've found tea tree oil products to be very effective with various skin issues. And no, I'm not one of those "essential oils cure everything" types of hippies.

When our pediatrician said "eh, just wait it out," we tried tea tree oil on our four year old (we figured why not?), and didn't see a significant change in the course of the infection.

Tea tree oil does smell really good, though.

The doc we saw could give zero flips about it but at least our son got TWO Star Wars stickers (the doc probably burned the rest of them afterwards). We might try the tea oil. I feel sorry for the poor guy, pandemic, first week of school, and these annoying bumps in a private area his parents have to mess around with.

He forgot his water bottle this morning when we walked to school so I drove back and dropped it off after school started. Three staff members had some special needs kid cornered in the vestibule double doors area trying to keep him from leaving. I guess things could be worse.

All the insight is very helpful, glad this isn't something too out of the ordinary.

Go to a dermatologist, there are a couple of treatments for this. Our daughter caught a small case of this a few years ago, she was maybe 5. Treatment worked for her. No way I’d let her suffer through that for months to two years.

When my wife gets home I'll show her this thread, she is a PA in derm.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: David W,

Thanks, we have a dermatologist appointment set up for 9/11, earliest available.

quote:

Originally posted by Timdogg6:
I would not let it fester for a damn year, that is torture

Except no, its not torture. Not even close.

quote:

Originally posted by dry-fly:
Go to a dermatologist, there are a couple of treatments for this. Our daughter caught a small case of this a few years ago, she was maybe 5. Treatment worked for her. No way I’d let her suffer through that for months to two years.

Thanks for implying that I let my kid "suffer."

Both of these are poor word choice, at minimum. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

My wife is an MD and consulted several pediatrician friends and a couple of pedi derms when my daughter got it. The concensus was that the available treatments either are not very effective, are very unpleasant, or both, so they're either pretty useless (topical meds) or the downsides are generally worse than the infection (burning/shaving the spots off).

The youngest had it. Didn’t really bother her much, but we did try tea tree oil after the pediatrician identified what it was. Seemed to help a little. A few pick marks some 13 years later.

Hi there, this is David's wife and I am a PA-C in Dermatology - for 14 years now.

Molluscum Contagiosum is a common viral infection in kids. It is not that common for adults to get the virus because there immune system has likely seen the virus at some point during their life and built immunity - but it does happen.
There are FDA indicated topicals for molluscum though topicals are used "off label". I do not find them very effective and they work by causing irritation to the skin which is not very pleasant.

In the office we typically offer patients the option of doing nothing, in which case, it usually takes the immune system a year to year and a half to clear the virus or the option of treating with a topical blister beetle juice: which does not hurt when applied and in several hours a blister forms which will remove the molluscum or the option of treating with liquid nitrogen: it is very cold and stings for a second or two but it is a very quick treatment. Most patients will clear 75-100% of the molluscum with 1 in office treatment but some do require and additional treatment.

I was at a conference two years ago where two of the top dermatologist in our nation were speaking about using heat therapy. They suggested placing a heating pad on the area which has the most molluscum on high for 30 minutes. They stated they had seen remarkable results in their patients. They suggested the Sunbeam heating pad as it gets the hottest. This would be up to your discretion and comfort level.

You also have the option, if your child will allow it, to pop them individually like a pimple and then wash the area and hands well. The debris that "comes out" of the molluscum is molluscoid body by which it spreads itself.

If the lesions are asymptomatic I would just leave them until they bothered your child in some way - whether that is physically or aesthetically.

Good luck with your kid and the deer hunting

Dude, chill. I didn't even read your post

quote:

Originally posted by dry-fly:
Go to a dermatologist, there are a couple of treatments for this. Our daughter caught a small case of this a few years ago, she was maybe 5. Treatment worked for her. No way I’d let her suffer through that for months to two years.

Thanks for implying that I let my kid "suffer."

Both of these are poor word choice, at minimum. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.[/QUOTE]