My 4 yr old daughter was recently diagnosed with "MC", and I had never heard of it. I am HOPING someone here can give me some insight, because my pediatrician certainly did not. I was told this would be around for 6-12 months, and would go away without scaring. And then I was told "It's no big deal", and "It's contagious" in the same sentence. I did google it, and got all that same information. So when am I to worry? She starts pre-school for the first time in 3 weeks, will she be sent home? The area is rather small, however, its on her neck and chin. Its visable to anyone who looks at her. Some days it looks great, you hardly notice, and some days it really stands out. I have a feeling this is rare, and many of you will say what I said "I've never heard of it", but again, anyone with insight? Advise? The ped told me he could remove them, but it would be very painful for her, so we should just wait it out....?
Hi H.,
My daughter (3 years old) has it too. I have found two things that work to help it go away. 1. Zymaderm- I found this on the internet. 2. Aldara cream -you have to get a prescription for this. Both work well, but you have to keep on it, otherwise it can come back.
Good Luck!
H., do you have room in your boat for one more mom? LOL! My daughter has one of those on her arm. She's had it for about a year now. Maybe a little longer. What I was told was:
They are not contageous.
They are harmless.
They will just fall off on their own without scaring.
They may be around for a while.
My girlfriend's little boy had quite a few & had his for a couple years but they did just come off on their own & as far as I can see, there is no scar.
She has 2 other kids and neither of those kids, herself or her husband ever got them. They did not spread on her son either.
So, I am kinda hoping my daughter's is the same way but so far we're following that path. Good luck!
Two of my sons had these. One son's were surgically removed because it was near his eye and he was having surgery for another issue anyway. He also had one removed where they put a numbing creme on and plucked out the white seed. He has not had any more issues - that was when he was about 1-2 yrs. old and he is 9 now.
My other son had some on his kneeds. The dermatologist put some kind of ointment on it. It didn't burn or hurt. We washed it off an hour later at home and eventually the molluscum oozed/popped and dried up. We have had no other problems with him getting more and that was about 3 yrs. ago.
My son had molluscoum contagiosum for over a year. I was told that it rarely lasts more than two years and it's not all that uncommon (like 2-5% of kids get them). A few months ago his bumps finally went away. At about 6 months I noticed a small cluster of 6 or so bumps on his chest and took him to the dermatologist. They consistently kept on spreading. The dermatologist had us on I think 4-5 different creams trying to find one that would work and even at one point an oral medicine. It was rough for us because some of the creams (specifically salacylic acid gel) would burn when we put it on. We had to put a dab on each bump so we wouldn't dry out the skin around the bumps. He ended up having a very severe case and it was pretty much all over his body... we're talking over 100 bumps! And yes, it is contagious to other children. It is not very likely for an adult to get it though. We were told to use a fresh bath towel each time for him and cover his bumps if around other children. Thankfully my son's bumps were at the worst in the winter and we kept him in turtle necks a lot to cover up as much as we could. We did keep him out of the church nursery because I was afraid of it spreading to other kids. Your daughter is older though and can probably be careful not to rub her neck on other people :)
In the end we switched to a new pediatrician and he said that pretty much every dermatologist will want to treat it, but if treated they are more likely to scar and not very likely to go away any more quickly. From the time we stopped treating it, it took about a month to completely go away (yay!). Our son does have a lot of scars (little indentations from each bump) all over his chest and some on his arms, but we're hoping they go away with time cause he's so young. Sorry, it's probably not encouraging to you to hear about a bad case of MC, but then again it's good that you're wanting to learn about it and take precautions. Looking back it's hard to know if his bumps would have gone away any more quickly had we not treated... I'm just glad that he is clear of them now!
Best of luck to you and I hope that you find what works best for you and your little girl!
My son had the same thing. His were all under his clothes, but he still went to school. It's only passed with skin to skin contact, at least that's what I was told. So although its contagious, it's not like every child will have it in the class. It will go away and come back in a different place on the body. Just when you think you're over it, a new area breaks out. Really though, my son was never bothered by it at all, only ME!! I was also told it could last up to 18 months old. I can't remember how long ours lasted. We never got any removed.
My aunt has 5 kids, 4 of her kids had it and no one ever really knew. They all continued to go to school through the whole thing.
My son had this when he was 4/12 to five
years old.The ped told me that it would go
away 6-12 months.Well we ending up
switchhing Peds.and they kept on spreading
His was on his back of his legs and on his
butt so it was covered up.The new doctor
said they had to be removed.So for 2
weeks we had to put on a aquqphor healing
ointment to soften the area.Then he got
them removed this spring.We had to put on
lidocaine prilocain it numbs the area.We had
to put it on hour before the procedure and
put on bandaids on so the numming stuffed
stayed on. They had to scrapped them off it
didn't hurt to bad because it was numb.
Hope this helps.He got one more after that
and I put that ointment on and it went away.
Sorry I rattled on and good luck to you.Oh
by the way they never sent him from school
as long as it was covered up.
Your pediatrician is correct in stating it is not a big deal. All three of my children had molluscum when they were little. My son still has scars on his back from having them frozen off. It takes doctor visits and the molluscum spreads in the process of going away. Your daughter is NOT going to be sent home from preschool. It truly is not that big of deal. My daughter actually had one on her eyelid that the doc did not want to touch. It ended up getting fairly big, but eventually fell off when she itched her eye. I do remember them telling me not to let my children bathe together though, as this is a good way to spread them from child to child. My kids all ended up spreading them to eachother anyway, and we just dealt with all of them at the doctor. They are ages 13, 10 and 8 now and none of them have them now. Think of it as a wart.....as it is in the wart family. Hope this helps.
T
Just make sure that the school is aware. I've encountered it only one other time and the district RN allowed the student in school. Check with the school before the first day. Good luck.
Hi H.,
My daughter has that also. It started last summer and she got one on the top/back of her arm. She eventually picked it off- I know gross- it bled for a bit then nothing. This late winter she had more pop up in the same place, at one point there were 13! They would itch sometimes and I would put hydrocortisone or witch hazel on- I don't know if it helped or just made her feel better. All of the sudden about 3 weeks ago they all went away. My doc said that we could go the dermatologist to have them removed, but it would scar. If you can just leave it, no scar. My 2 girls sleep, bathe, do everything together and neither she nor I have ever gotten one ourselves. I really think it's not a big deal, but hers weren't readily noticable.
Good luck
My 2 oldest boys had it. The little one is (hopefully) on his last one. They start as little flesh colored bumps then later redden and seem to have a pus like core. With the first, the ped told me that they would be scraped off. We went to a ped dermatologist who said no to removal, but she gave us a cream to try.
That cream just irritated his neck (it was red and horrible looking), so we tried another cream (this one was Aldera for warts). It was expensive and didn't help, so we ended up just waiting it out. I found that the gel inside Vit E capsules helped the reddness and so did aloe straight from the plant. It was about a year, and they went away. My kids had it on their necks, so it was open to see. That was the worst part. Sorry I don't have better news - ours was a game of wait and see.
Two of my grandchildren have this and they see a dermatologost regularly and periodically take medication for it.
It seems to come and go with them.
They are 2 1/2 and almost 5 years old.
I think the 4 year old has had less outbreaks as time goes on.
I would get another opinion since your child will be in preschool soon.
I have it as well. looks like you got plenty of good advice. i just want to post two things:
1- i know it early but, when she hits puberty or gets pregnant it will probably flare up again. my hormones this last pregnancy gave me quite a few new ones.
2- again i know its really early but i was told that it was sexually transmitted as well. that is actually how i got it in the first place at age 25.
obviously those are for much later down the road. i wouldn't worry at all. they fall off within a few months any time i have them. the one in my armpit is about to fall off and its only been there for three months.
My daughter had that too. She was about the same age. They came and went on different parts of her body for about a year. The dr. told me that he could remove them, which is very painful and no guarantees, or we could just let them go and they would eventually go away. I tried using that freeze away on them, but she would not stand for that. When they would get big, just before they fall off, I put a bandaid on it. The dr. told me that the way they spread is when they fall off, the inside is like a "core" and the core contains the virus. So if she scratches it that is what spreads it. I'm not sure if the bandaids helped or not, at that point I quit worrying about it and the next time I thought about it, it was gone. If I were you, I wouldn't worry about it, it'll go away.
Hi H.! Good luck with this, it sounds like there have been a range of severity among those that have responded so far. My son (age 4) had several bumps of MC for over a year. They were mainly on his neck, but had a few on his chest and face. When we moved and had to change doctors, he sent us to a pediatric dermatologist. The doctor prescribed Aldera, which was expensive, but he told us to poke a hole in the packet with a pin and then refrigerate the packet so we could get at least 2 uses out of it. We put a tiny spot of Aldera on each bump after his bath and tried to have him be still for a minute or two to let it dry before getting dressed. Within 3-4 weeks, every bump was gone. They did get a little red, but they didn't seem to hurt or itch.
They are contagious, and now my daughter has a few bumps, but we haven't yet taken her to have them treated. But the Aldera worked for us! Good luck! If she's not picking at them and making them sore (or risking infection) then she's probably okay for now unless they get more severe.
