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 4.94 (Highly recommend) from 17 votes (1070 Visits) |
A while ago my son developed a whole bunch of pimple like lumps on his legs and a couple on his face, thinking they looked like warts we went to the doctors and was told that he had Molluscum Contagiosum.
Molluscum Contagiosum is a viral infection usually occurring in clusters on the skin. Common places for it to be are legs, arms, torso and groin. It is a wart virus and most commonly occurs in children, although anyone can get it and, yes, it is mildly contagious. The lesions are raised pimple like lumps but different to a common wart in that they have a 'donut' or dimpled shaped centre to them. Molluscum also have a shiny or blistery appearance to them.
Molluscum can be passed through direct contact, sharing towels or swimming pools, but once the virus is gone it is gone, unlike some viruses that lie dormant in the body. Because of this my second son also developed it and he also had a case of eczema around the area as well. Apparently this is not unusual and happens in a number of cases. The eczema made it itchy, so we were advised by our GP to treat that with his usual cream as the scratching was making them bleed. There is not much you can do to treat the Molluscum it is something that works it's way out of the body and can take months or years to do so. With my first son it took a year or more to disappear. I found that after a year some of them started erupting , becoming red and eventually forming a scab and falling off. With some that were in a non-delicate area of the body we used some wart paint and they have been successfully removed without any damaged. It does leave a slight reddish mark but that has faded in time. You need to be careful with wart paints and 'burning' them off not to damage the surrounding skin and i would advise getting your GP's advise before doing this. Other remedies to try are Homeopathic Thuja and tea tree oil is suppose to reduce the growths and spread of the lesions. My doctor also suggested pricking each one with a pin, as it seems any sort of trauma to the lesions and they erupt quite easily, although i would worry about getting them infected and have not tried this. If i was to try this i would use some antiseptic and cover with a band aid dressing.
I think if it is not in a conspicuous place and not worrying the child probably best to leave them. For really bad cases they can be surgically removed by liquid nitrogen or laser. The ones my son had on his face i don't actually think were Molluscum but common warts and were supposed to be removed by surgery but when the surgery day came around it actually had started to recede and had nearly gone, so we cancelled the appointment. We had decided to removed them with surgery because of where they were and at school a lot of kids always thought he had a crumb on his lip as it was in the corner of his mouth.
Like with anything, common sense should prevail and getting advice from your GP or Health Care Professional.
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4.94 (Highly recommend) from 17 votes |
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Re: MOLLUSCUM CONTAGIOSUM
My one year old was today diagnosed with Molluscum Contagiosum. She had 2 lesions appear and disappear last month and when another 3 showed up yesturday and today, I thought I'd have it checked by our GP.
Warts are caused by a virus that lays dorment and may reappear throughout life, whereas Moluscum is caused by a different type of virus, belonging to the pox family of viruses, and luckily, these viruses, once gone, they're gone for good. So I'm really looking at putting up with it for the nxt 1 to 3 years and hoping she doen't infect the rest of us especially her brother and cousins, or, find a treatment. The doctor of course said there's no treatment and to just wait it out. But online I've found some "proven" natural treatments, and for children as young as my own, although I'm hesitant to try anything til I've heard from a parent who has.
Some of the treatments includedtea tree oil. Australian Lemon Myrtle Essential Oil, and Zymaderm (a combination of Tea tree oil and iodine).
But my main worry right now is why she has contracted the virus. Not how, she could've picked it up from any of the public places we visit, since it can be transmitted through indirect contact as well as direct. The "WHY" is because it may mean her cell-mediated immune system isn't up to scratch, which is why these types of viruses affect some of any population but not the other.
So I've got a fair bit of researching ahead of me to determine the why and then hopefully the how to overcome this or strengthen the immune system to prevent further disease contraction.
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Re: MOLLUSCUM CONTAGIOSUM
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(July 2008) (
