Molluscum Contagiosum - Is it worth having removed if doesn't go away by itself

[Maree.]

I know I've seen mention of other kids with this rash, curious to here what recommendations you've received about treatment.

Liam got his first batch of mollusca about 20 months ago. That first batch are still there and when he gets sick he tends to get new batches. He currently has about 30 mollusca. They don't hurt but they do periodically get infected in which case they are sore.

I've discussed this with GP's & Liam's GI and their advise was don't worry it will go away by itself which is what i've read online.

When we saw the Pediatrican yesterday she recommended we take Liam to a dermatologist to discuss. The pediatrican acknowledged that the normal advice is to just leave them to heal by themselves but said she felt given he's had them so long and they aren't healing it would be better to remove them to reduce the risk of fresh instances.

Thoughts?

 

[DanceMom]

A has this on the back of her thighs and buttocks. She has scratched some of hers and they look crusty. I cover those with Bandaids so they don't become infected. The dermatologist told us we could treat them if we decided to. She said they use the same medication used to treat warts but only leave it on for 5 minutes so it isn't painful (having her warts treated was VERY painful). At this point we are choosing not to treat them. They aren't too terribly bothersome for her and we have bigger issues right now quite honestly. I think treatment is a personal decision though and we may reconsider in the future.

 

[CDJ]

Josh had these when he was about 6 [ now 12 ]. They are very unsightly, but they never really caused him much problems. He had them mainly on his torso, thighs and upper arms. We were told that GP's [ our one anyway ] don't like to treat them as it is very painful.
We were advised to just rub them with a towel after a bath to try to rub the heads off. I don't know if that worked or not. He has been left with a lot of pitted skin under his arms and top part of torso, so I wouldn't advice the rubbing. [ I now think it's a bit like picking a chicken pox spot -- it leaves scars ].
Josh had them for about 2 years, I didn't think they would ever go But they do eventually go, you just have to be patient.

The hardest thing for us was how bad they looked, especially when Josh went swimming. So he ended up wearing rash long sleeved tops which stopped people staring.

 

[crohnsinct]

O had them and they are quite common among the swimmers on our team.

Her derm's advice was to leave them alone and they will go away. However, he also said they are very contagious (thus the whole swim team getting them) and that it might be worth considering having them removed if we see them spread to other family members. They never spread and they eventually went away on their own.

Every swimmer on our team who has them removed says it hurt like crazy (similar to wart freezing) and says in their mind it isn't worth it.

Since they are getting infected, might be worth seeing a derm. Maybe they can give you something to keep infection away. Also you never know, the ped could be wrong with their diagnosis. Maybe it is something entirely different. Remember we were treating O for eczema topically and systemically with a derm and it turned out that wasn't what she had at all!

A fresh set of eyes and a new opinion never hurts.

Good Luck!

 

[Maree.]

Thanks will take him to the dermatologist and see what she recommends about them.

 

[Sascot]

Andrew had them for about 18 months a couple years ago. We were also told to just leave them - they would go away but they didn't. They were between his legs, so got really sore and would burst and I even ended up having to go to his school to change his plasters.
We demanded the dermatologist and he tried a couple treatments. The one that worked was some sort of chemical liquid which he dabbed onto some of the biggest spots. That made them blister, then burst and then go away. It took another few weeks but they did finally go away!

 

[DustyKat]

No experience with that at our end Maree. How do they remove them?
I only ask because if he is having any issues with healing I don't know that it would be the best to introduce new wounds. Just a thought.

Just gotta add this bit nonsense:

Molluscum Contagiosum...tell me that doesn't sound like a Hogwarts spell! :lol:

Dusty. xxx

 

[S mom]

:lol2: Hahaha! I wonder what that spell would do??

 

[Farmwife]

:lol2: Hahaha! I wonder what that spell would do??

If Dusty can say it...that means nothing good.:lol2:

 

[DustyKat]

Oh I dunno...it sort of sounds like you would be covered in molluscs! Or perhaps turn into one! :eek2:

Mind you I am quite partial to a mollusc...nom, nom, nom. :lol:

 

[Dexky]

Never even heard of it, but yeah, I can just see Herminey(I don't care how you spell it Dusty!) spinning her wand and saying that!

 

[DustyKat]

That would be Hermione and who said anything about Hermione...

I have red hair, a black cat and a new straw broom!...Molluscum Contagiosum!

 

[Maree.]

Will ask the dermatologist and ask her how they remove and what she thinks about healing afterwards.

I like the Hogwarts imagery

 

[Twiggy930]

My son had these ages ago. I think he was about 4 years old. His were spreading so we had them removed by our GP. He froze the skin some how, I think he used a numbing cream, and then scraped them off with what looked like a tiny ice cream scooper. My son's were small and came off really easily. I don't remember him being bothered by the process.

 

[Maree.]

Dermatologist said that although the condition can persist for a couple of years that individual mollusca should heal within 6 months. She commented that Liam's seem to be getting deeper & worse as they get older rather than improving so feels they definitely need to come off.

She said they scrape off the top then scoop out material from inside. That the process will take between 40 minutes and an hour and that the recent ones (from the last six months) should heal within 3 - 4 days but the healing time will be longer (7 - 10 days) for the older ones.

 

[Maree.]

Liam had his Molluscum Contagiosum treated last Sunday. The Dermatologist used a digging tool to cut them open and scoop out the center which was extremely painful. The wounds hurt badly for about 2 days.

We we're told small/new ones would heal in 2-3 days, some of the older ones 7 - 10 days. It's now 6 days and the new ones are almost healed. The ones that we're 6 - 12 months old are still sore and inflammed, but look like there improving and the older ones (older than 18 months) don't look good at all. I'm going to take him back to the doctor tomorrow to get them to check the older ones to make sure they don't need further treatment.

Despit the fact that the process has been much worse than the Dermatologist led us to expect, I'm glad we did go ahead because it does seem based on what's happening with healing that she was right and they we're getting worse the older they got. So perhaps if we'd left them we'd have had a lot more really bad ones that were hard to treat.

 

[DanceMom]

A's have now gone away on their own. Praying they don't return!

 

[Maree.]

Fantastic to hear. My understanding is that's the way it should work, that it's really unusual for them to not heal by themselves.

I'm hoping once we get Liam's current ones cleared up they don't return but knowing his body wasn't able to get rid of them itself, if any more do appear I intend to get them treated straight away.

 

[Sascot]

Andrew's cleared up after the dermatologist treated them, and so far (fingers crossed) it's been about 4 years and they haven't come back.