Mollescum hell

[Anonymous]

NP. Assuming it is mollescum (and I agree you should confirm with different derm), I don’t understand the passive approach. You can make the experience much shorter.

For the first kid that got it, we followed the advice to just leave it alone and it lasted over a year. For the second, I had enough and did the below. It was fully gone in six weeks. After that we did the below and it was always gone in 6-8 weeks.

Cover every night in duct tape.
The ones that start to turn color are ready to be extracted.
Get in hot shower with kids and have them stand under shower for awhile (softens skin).
In the shower, gently squeeze and remove seed with needle-nose tweezer. The hot water will help eliminate spread.
Out of shower, cover extraction locations immediately with lotion and band aid. Wash your own hands with hot water and soap frequently.
Make sure you take the bathing suits and towels and wash them in hot water after the shower. Avoid touching wet towel & bathing suits.
Repeat every few days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. Assuming it is mollescum (and I agree you should confirm with different derm), I don’t understand the passive approach. You can make the experience much shorter.

For the first kid that got it, we followed the advice to just leave it alone and it lasted over a year. For the second, I had enough and did the below. It was fully gone in six weeks. After that we did the below and it was always gone in 6-8 weeks.

Cover every night in duct tape.
The ones that start to turn color are ready to be extracted.
Get in hot shower with kids and have them stand under shower for awhile (softens skin).
In the shower, gently squeeze and remove seed with needle-nose tweezer. The hot water will help eliminate spread.
Out of shower, cover extraction locations immediately with lotion and band aid. Wash your own hands with hot water and soap frequently.
Make sure you take the bathing suits and towels and wash them in hot water after the shower. Avoid touching wet towel & bathing suits.
Repeat every few days.

This is the grossest thing I've ever read on this website.

You're not supposed to pop them or do anything like that unless you want scarring. This is bad advice.

[Anonymous]

We just waited it out. Can't recall exactly how long...maybe 6-9 months. Can't really imagine doing most of the things described here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 7yo has had mollescum for over a year now and it just won’t go away. For the first 9-10 months it was just a cluster of bumps on one leg, but it has now spread to the other leg and one arm.

We have tried so many things - beetle juice at the derm 2x, Imiquidmob, and all the internet recommended treatments from dial and neutrogena soap to Mollenol, Dead Sea salt baths and Differin.

Our dermatologist does not want to freeze them off because it will be too traumatic and there are too many now, and just recommends waiting it out at this point. Has anyone just waited it out and they eventually went away? Given that it has already been more than a year I am worried it could be another year or more.

"Traumatic" to freeze them off? I'd get a new derm immediately.

[Anonymous]

There are multiple other treatments you can try. Cimetidine (Tagamet) hasn't been mentioned yet, and it's just an oral antacid/antihistamine that doesn't increase the risk of scarring. There is good research on it.

American Academy of Dermatology:
https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/a-z/molluscum-contagiosum-treatment

Also:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8844752/
https://projectlead.dermsquared.com/clinical-corner/is-there-data-on-oral-cimetidine-for-widespread-molluscum-lesions/

[Anonymous]

We just waited. It takes 18-24 months but they went away on their own.

Why pursue treatment for a harmless rash that will fade on its own? That never made sense to me.

[Anonymous]

Weirdly, Boudreaux’s Butt Paste was what worked for my kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 7yo has had mollescum for over a year now and it just won’t go away. For the first 9-10 months it was just a cluster of bumps on one leg, but it has now spread to the other leg and one arm.

We have tried so many things - beetle juice at the derm 2x, Imiquidmob, and all the internet recommended treatments from dial and neutrogena soap to Mollenol, Dead Sea salt baths and Differin.

Our dermatologist does not want to freeze them off because it will be too traumatic and there are too many now, and just recommends waiting it out at this point. Has anyone just waited it out and they eventually went away? Given that it has already been more than a year I am worried it could be another year or more.

"Traumatic" to freeze them off? I'd get a new derm immediately.

I had mine frozen off. Traumatic is right. The most painful thing I ever experienced, despite birthing a nine pound baby med free. I wouldn’t do it to a kid for some bumps that don’t hurt or itch.

[Anonymous]

We did multiple rounds of Beetlejuice and it worked. More than just two rounds.

[Anonymous]

It tends to flare up for a few weeks/ month before it fades. It’s harmless and always goes away on its own. I never understood the panic surrounding molluscum from some parents on here. Like, literally who cares if your kid has unsightly bumps for a year and a half. Almost every kid gets it at some point (some super mild of course). It’s fine. Unclench. Your child will be ready to be a J Crew model again in another month or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. Assuming it is mollescum (and I agree you should confirm with different derm), I don’t understand the passive approach. You can make the experience much shorter.

For the first kid that got it, we followed the advice to just leave it alone and it lasted over a year. For the second, I had enough and did the below. It was fully gone in six weeks. After that we did the below and it was always gone in 6-8 weeks.

Cover every night in duct tape.
The ones that start to turn color are ready to be extracted.
Get in hot shower with kids and have them stand under shower for awhile (softens skin).
In the shower, gently squeeze and remove seed with needle-nose tweezer. The hot water will help eliminate spread.
Out of shower, cover extraction locations immediately with lotion and band aid. Wash your own hands with hot water and soap frequently.
Make sure you take the bathing suits and towels and wash them in hot water after the shower. Avoid touching wet towel & bathing suits.
Repeat every few days.

This is the grossest thing I've ever read on this website.

You're not supposed to pop them or do anything like that unless you want scarring. This is bad advice.

Right?? And what does she mean by”every time”? You only get it once. Sure if she physically removed each and every bump, but the virus isn’t gone from the body yet, the kid might appear to get it multiple times but it’s all the same initial infection. Parents, only do this if you want an astonishingly higher risk of scarring

[Anonymous]

A renowned pediatric dermatologist once told me, if she can convince a parent to leave molluscum fully alone, and let it run its natural course of 3-18 months, no matter how hard she has to work to convince them, she will feel she has done her job. The only time she said she would “treat” it would be if despite her best efforts, the parent insisted.

I’m sure some dermatologists are either lazier, or just want the money for the treatments , and will be more than happy to treat them. But the actual medical consensus- money and time/ effort aside- is to leave. It. Alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It tends to flare up for a few weeks/ month before it fades. It’s harmless and always goes away on its own. I never understood the panic surrounding molluscum from some parents on here. Like, literally who cares if your kid has unsightly bumps for a year and a half. Almost every kid gets it at some point (some super mild of course). It’s fine. Unclench. Your child will be ready to be a J Crew model again in another month or two.

Not harmless. By “leaving it alone,” my first give gave it to my second kid and their cousin. We did the needle technique and it cleared it up in a few weeks. No scarring

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
There are multiple other treatments you can try. Cimetidine (Tagamet) hasn't been mentioned yet, and it's just an oral antacid/antihistamine that doesn't increase the risk of scarring. There is good research on it.

American Academy of Dermatology:
https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/a-z/molluscum-contagiosum-treatment

Also:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8844752/
https://projectlead.dermsquared.com/clinical-corner/is-there-data-on-oral-cimetidine-for-widespread-molluscum-lesions/

We used cimetidine for a stubborn case on the advice of a pediatric dermatologist. My kid had eczema too and we could not get rid of the molluscum.

[Anonymous]

The dermatologist at Dr Tamjidi's office popped my son's mollusciums and we did them ourselves at home. They eventually went away so I suppose the method worked.