How was your kid’s Molluscum treated?

[Anonymous]

My 8 year old has Molluscum. So far, it’s a handful of bumps on his upper leg.

The pediatrician says there’s no treatment and that it should eventually (months from now) resolve on its own.

My friend who lives in another state said her pediatrician prescribed an ointment that helped, and they ultimately froze off the last remaining one after a few months. My pediatrician insists there is no prescription ointment.

I don’t want to be proactive and I don’t want it to spread.

I’m curious how you managed it? Did you cover the bumps with bandaids? Did you try home remedies? Did your doctor prescribe anything? Did anything help? How long did it last? Did you see a dermatologist and were they more proactive?

Ugh. It’s awful. My little guy is really upset and keeps asking when they will go away.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

^^^Typo: I DO want to be proactive.

[Anonymous]

Nothing helped but time, really. Took about 18 months to really be gone. Sorry!

[Anonymous]

My DD was 12 so a bit older. The dermatologist froze them off. That may not be the best thing for a little one but it did the trick. They never came back.

[Anonymous]

Liquid nitrogen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing helped but time, really. Took about 18 months to really be gone. Sorry!

Ugh.

How much did it spread?

Did you keep them covered?

[Anonymous]

Time is the cure - they are caused by a virus. Our pediatrician said if you freeze them off they can come back, which is why we did not do that

[Anonymous]

Freezing works, but they often go away on their own. Letting them resolve naturally has the least risk of scarring.

Another option is topical Cantharidin ("beetle juice," made from beetles), but this is usually only done by dermatologists. Primary care doctors are more likely to have liquid nitrogen available. both increase risk of pockmark scarring.

[Anonymous]

We tried different approaches. The only thing that worked was having an excellent dermatologist (not the pediatrician) freeze them off. He was careful not to leave anything behind!

[Anonymous]

About a year and a half ago my older DS got it on his torso. He scratched at it and it spread all over his torso, leading to bout 15 or so warts. He spread it to his younger brother who also had about 8 or so warts on his torso and butt. We definitely did not want to wait it out as they seemed to keep spreading and getting worse. Our per have us a referral to a derm, who did a total of two beetle juice treatments, one per month. They fell offf over the course of these months.got

Then, about five months ago, older DS got another wart, this time in his left palm. Since we're in NYC and were staying at home due to COVID, we thought we would wait for it to resolve on its own. It became very painful, so much so that WE stopped using that hand. So our ped, via a televisit, gave us a referral to a derm, who froze the wart off. It took two treatments, one per month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About a year and a half ago my older DS got it on his torso. He scratched at it and it spread all over his torso, leading to bout 15 or so warts. He spread it to his younger brother who also had about 8 or so warts on his torso and butt. We definitely did not want to wait it out as they seemed to keep spreading and getting worse. Our per have us a referral to a derm, who did a total of two beetle juice treatments, one per month. They fell offf over the course of these months.got

Then, about five months ago, older DS got another wart, this time in his left palm. Since we're in NYC and were staying at home due to COVID, we thought we would wait for it to resolve on its own. It became very painful, so much so that WE stopped using that hand. So our ped, via a televisit, gave us a referral to a derm, who froze the wart off. It took two treatments, one per month.

Sorry for the autocorrects. The pediatrician made the refferals. My older son stopped using the hand with the wart, favoring the other, due to the wart pain. The treatments were well worth it in terms of less pain and discomfort, less spreading, and time saved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About a year and a half ago my older DS got it on his torso. He scratched at it and it spread all over his torso, leading to bout 15 or so warts. He spread it to his younger brother who also had about 8 or so warts on his torso and butt. We definitely did not want to wait it out as they seemed to keep spreading and getting worse. Our per have us a referral to a derm, who did a total of two beetle juice treatments, one per month. They fell offf over the course of these months.got

Then, about five months ago, older DS got another wart, this time in his left palm. Since we're in NYC and were staying at home due to COVID, we thought we would wait for it to resolve on its own. It became very painful, so much so that WE stopped using that hand. So our ped, via a televisit, gave us a referral to a derm, who froze the wart off. It took two treatments, one per month.

Warts and Molluscum are two different things...

[Anonymous]

beetle juice on the body and differin on the face. Worked with a dermatologist with monthly follow ups.

[Anonymous]

DD had some burned off w/ beetle juice...honestly, it was pretty painful for her. When she got it again, we just let it resolve on it's own.

[Anonymous]

Both my girls go them and our ped said there was nothing to be done; we had to see a dermatologist to get any options. They can freeze them off, but it sometimes takes more than one freezing (esp with multiple bumps) and it doesn't mean the virus is gone - bumps can still pop up in other areas. We did the freezing off but sure enough, only about half went away. Each girl got a handful of other bumps in other areas over the course of a year - most of them in the first six months. Took about 12-14 months to go away. During the time the bumps were active, I bleached all clothing that touched it. For 16 months I bleached all towels after single use by the kids, and the adults didn't share towels. That's probably overkill but I just got in the habit. We also heard that kids shouldn't share baths or even take baths by themselves b/c it can spread to other locations in the water (but honestly the research about molluscum is very vague so I'm not positive about that - it's definitely spread by open bumps, but seems unclear whether it's spread from within the body or from touching the area that has the rash).

Oh, and ours were on their legs too, so we bought swim shorts that came to their knees, so there was no exposure to the bumps. It supposedly isn't contagious in chlorinated water, but often is picked up from the edge pools where kids sit - and then get it on the backs of their legs (as ours did).

The "prescription" med I heard about was Differin - which isn't prescription anymore. I've heard it's a miracle solution for some people. Didn't seem to make an impact for my kids though.

I was super stressed about the Molluscum for the first two months and then thankfully got over it. Turns out it's very common and most people don't stress that much - took me a while to get there!