Strange Bumps

I have a 14 year old that has acne all over his upper body. He uses a t-shirt for summer. It is not uncommon for teen boys to wear shirts swimming and such.
You did not say how old your son was.
I would let him know that everyone is different and that some kids just don't deal with it well.
Good luck

My daughter had this and luckily the worst of it was during fall/winter and it did go away- but I understand your worries! I bought a product called ZymaDerm I found online that is specifically for this and it seemed to help, although I think it may have already started to go away a bit on its own as well. It is a homeopathic product, and I called our pediatrician about it before we used it. She didn't recommend using anything at first, but she gave the OK to try the ZymaDerm.

Hi B. - My sons (2 and 5) both had mollescum as well. Their pediatrician told me this....Everyone has the virus. It's a skin virus. Just some people (kids) aren't able to fight it off. On my older son, we had the beetlejuice put on him to blister them off. it looked pretty painful to me, but not once did he cry about it. They all went away, and he hasn't had another one since. On my younger one, we did the same thing. He didn't cry about it either. They didn't go all the way away, so we did it again. they are now gone. I used to pop them, and that just made him CRY and get MORE!! SO, i felt like a terrible mama when I went to the dermatologist and they said we are NOT supposed to pop them. They are highly contagious in the water, although I bathed my children together after my older ones were gone. My younger one still had them and he never passed it on to my older son. His dermatologist said that he is now immune and shouldn't get them again.
So, my experience was this. The bettlejuice did not hurt when they put it on. It did blister up and look painful, but not once did either one of my children complain about it. Their (bumpy's) went away within a month or two. we haven't seen them since!
I read what another mother had said about never doing it again, but I would in a heartbeat. They went away so fast, and we haven't had any other problems, and the benefits for my kids (swimming in pools and lakes and not having to worry about infecting other kids) far outweighed the two days of discomfort.(for me!!!)
Good luck, L.

My daughter was diagnosed with that as well but we were given a cream...I cannot remember now what it was but it speeded up the process..might not hurt to ask again.

First of all it is very contagious, and spread in the water also. My son had it for months and it continued to spread. My pedi said it would clear on its own. When they got up to his cheeks i called a dermo. He gave me an RX for some compound sorta like Compound W because it is a wart virus. Your pharmacy can make it up. You apply it with a tootpick, it will burn . I only had to apply it to every single bump twice it turns the bumps white and kills the virus internally. It did scar alittle but with in a few months the scarring all went away and the virus has been killed in his body. The compound is a acid based very safe liquid. Dont wait for them to go away the itch and spread callo a dermo.

check out this cure...

http://www.molluscum.com/?gclid=CMi4se3prZMCFQU4gwodvSYooA

My niece was diagnosed with this as well, and the doctor told her to just wait it out. In the meantime, tons of other children are exposed to it, and countless strangers I am sure have been infected by her. Her baby sister also caught it from her. It makes no sense to me that doctors keep recomending people just let it be!

I had that same thing when I was in my twenties, only one bump in the truck area. At that time, a dermatologist had to cut out the bump. I know the medical world has changed but I have never heard of them going away on their own and I have never been aware of where they come from. To this day I still get small prickly pain in the same spot, I just turned 53. Perhaps that is why a Dr. will not remove them anymore. Good luck, it is annoying.

Hello B.,

My name is C. Wellington and I can honestly say you are not alone. My middle son Josh and my youngest Chase both had these same bumps about 3 years ago. I can honestly say that they do go away in time and their is a cream out their that will help, unfortunately I can not remember the name of it. However it was prescribed by our Doctor at Kaiser. One other key to getting rid of them is not to scratch at them because once you break them open they spread even more. Also do not let your child take really hot showers or baths because that tends to pop them open as well. Continue to bug your doctor about how uncomfortable your child is with these bumps and ask for something to help relieve them. I will try to find out the name of the cream for you. My email address is ____@____.com

C.

My daughter had molloscum contagiosum too. It started out as one bump on her back near her underarm and turned into lots of little bumps in the area a year later. When a whole "crop" of them turned up, my pediatrician sent me to a dermatologist who used cantharidin (which comes from a beetle). It worked miracles, and she hasn't had an outbreak since.

There are several different options for treatment, but the most recommended is to let the virus run its course. Don't pop them (it hurts and just makes the virus spread). Cryo is an option but honestly it's probably not worth the pain and trauma (to both you and your son). Hydrogen peroxide and Compound W don't work, sorry!

I worried about other children noticing them as well, but it turned out that adults noticed them and NOT other kids!!

Don't worry, LOTS of kids get it!!

Hi, My 4 1/2 year old son has moluscum as well. He has had them for about a year and a half. When he was initially diagnosed with them our doctor used liquid nitrogen to "freeze" them. That was very painful and a big fight. We were then told that they would eventually go away on their own. His, however, have really spread. They are on his torso, the insides of his arms, behind and around his knees and now are going up his legs and are on his bottom. They can get really infected looking and do leave scars. I took him to the dermatologist last Sept and again this last week. Last Sept, she suggested just leaving them alone (which hasn't worked). She perscribed a cream called Aldara last Mon. for him. I have not filled it though. It is not approved for children or for Moluskum but she feels it is OK for him. We looked it up and it has a lot of side effects. I think I am going to try some of the internet remedys first. The Mayo clinic website has a lot of info on moluscum that we have used. They don't seem to bother my son but I hate that he has a contagious disease. I feel guilty letting him play with other kids (like I have to tell the other parent to disinfect everything). The winter wasn't so bad because they were covered by clothes but now that summer is coming I can't let him wear shorts to pre-school and can't have other kids over to play in our wading pool. That is a big bummer to me. No kids have ever teased him about his bumps- and he just tells them that it is moluskum contagiosum (so funny coming out of his mouth). I will be watching the others suggestions closely to find out which internet remedys seemed to work. Good luck. And thanks for posting your question. S. P

Hi B., try using Hydrogen Proxide. My sister's kids had these bumbs and they ARE annoying aren't they? someone else's kids had them and they had them take a bath in the proxide and IT DID THE TRICK. It wouldn't hurt to try.
Good luck.
E., Seattle

My son who is 9 also suffers from Molluscum Contagium. He was first diagnosed about 3 years ago and, while we have used Aldara, hydrogen peroxide, natural body lotions, Compound W, and a number of other remedies, I found that the best one is swimming. He took swimming lessons last summer and the chlorine in the water was enough to dry out that area and they were practically non-existent. When the doc gave me the diagnosis, I was mortified, because of the "contagium" part...it screams contagious, right? Everything I read online about it said not to let kids go swimming, but I believe that is either an old wive's tale or only applies to non-treated water. Pretty much anything that will dry out the area will work well. I wish you the best of luck with this and I hope it clears up soon.

Hi,
Both my 9 year old son and my 4 year old daughter have these. The pediatrician told me the same thing and I felt the same way you did so I took them to a dermatologist. She "removed" them by freezing them which immediately turned into horrible blood blisters. This was a two step treatment and we didn't go back for the second step which was to do it again. They do eventually turn into a pimple like bump that goes away on it's own. They do spread and are contagious. If my daughter gets one on one leg and it rubs on the other leg it spreads. I am sorry to not have great advice but trying to have them removed was painful and awful. I hope they go away soon.

Our son had this when he was in fifth grade. Coincidentally, much of his class was suffering from chicken pox at the same time - it seems that those who had received the vaccine when they were toddlers had had it wear off (no booster was available at that time, which was 4 years ago). He had it on his face and his trunk I think, and it did go away rather quickly - he did not have it into the summer at all. I always wondered if it was somehow the chicken pox virus acting up, though the Dr said no. I'm sorry I can't give you more help - just wanted you to know we've been through it and it wasn't too bad. If you haven't already, you could check out the National Institutes of Health website; nih.gov I have found it to be very helpful.

My Oldest DS had them as well, when he was 5 or 6 I think. The Dr I went to was more aggressive with treatment and used this beetle juice stuff that makes them blister HORRIBLY. After 2 rounds of treatment he was "healed" but the pain and suffering wasn’t worth it at all. Each blister was 1/2" to 1" in diameter and very thick and had to be lanced after a few days all of this was painful. I will NEVER do that again to any of my children. This was the first and last time I have taken a dr at their word about medical treatment... I look everything up now first... not that I felt lied to but they said small blisters and not painful etc etc... Anyways that’s off topic... so the treatment we did worked but the cure was way worse than the bumps esp. since even to this day ( he's 12) you can faintly see where some of the blisters were esp. after he’s been in the sun.. Well we will see how they look this summer but last I still noticed some discoloration... but then that could be mommy eyes :) anyway I do remember that my ds was more prone because of dry and sensitive skin and that because its (the bumps) are near the top layer of skin (if not in it, its been awhile now) the body doesn’t "see" the intruder and that’s why it takes a long time to go away and why the beetle juice works. it forces the body to "see" an intruder and in the process of healing one area it heals the whole area.. Which may be why the other lady's suggestion works... anyway as far as the other kids are concerned...kids will be kids but if your DS isn’t concerned about it then the other kids wont be concerned about it aside from a "what’s that" if at all so unless your DS is a very sensitive soul I wouldn’t worry too much about it well I HTH Becky

Hello B.,

you already got some great tips.
The most important thing to reduce the lenght of the disease is to prevent reinfection.
Depending on how bad the outbreak is, consider putting bandaids on the bumps, or at least those most likely to open.
Your son should not itch or pick at the sores, best not to touch them at all.
Each sore is filled with the virus and if it gets smeared onto other areas of skin it will cause more sores. That is why it sometimes takes years to clear up.
I don't know how old your son is, so lancing the sores, which makes them heal faster, may not be feasible. If you do lance the sores, be very, very careful not to get the contents all over. It is suggested that you disinfect the area with surgical strength betadine or something similar before and after lancing. Over the counter Acne/Antivirals/Antiseptics may help ifintroduced into the cut, however I would not suggest doing this without clearing it with your ped or dermatologist.
If you are disciplined about preventing propagation and reinfection you could see significant improvement within a few weeks.

My daughter has the same thing under her arm. I probably shouldn't tell you this but she has had them for over 2 years. But I did find something that works it is called Compound W it is for warts but that is really the same thing as contagium mollescum the only problem I had with it is that it burns when you put it on you have to do it everyday for like two weeks or something. My daughter is just so young so I decided to let it go away on it's own and it did and it didn't spread to me or her brother. So it really isn't that bad just annoying.

My son had that when he was about one or two years old. His was on his arms and I would put a long sleeve t-shirt on. I believe that it helped to keep it from spreading. I was worried about how long it would last, however, it went away after a few months. I'm not sure how old your son is, but maybe he could wear long shorts and a tank top? They also make rash gaurd shirts for swimming (Old Navy). I hope this helps and hopefully they go away sooner rather than later!!

Hi! My son had the same thing! We chose to freeze off the ones that were bothersome to him and left the other ones alone and they do disappear. They have come back a couple of times but have not been near as bad since we froze them off. The processs is not so bad, just a little scary. Anyways, just wanted to let you know that we had the same problem and it can be fixed...check with your ped.

~H.

Sorry I wasn't able to read other people's responses, so forgive me if I repeat what someone else told you. It's ok to take a sterile needle and carefully lance the bump and express the core material. The core is full of viral material and is contagious so make sure you don't get it on your son or yourself. I'd clean the bump with hydrogen peroxide. This will clear up the bumps eventually. I'd also pay attention to his immune system, clean diet, enough sleep, etc. Best of luck to you. A. Marie

Hi~ My nephew had them. He is only 2 1/2 years old. The doctor said the same thing... that it could take years to go away. My sister just kept a onsie on him, so he couldn't scratch them, or pick at them, because they are higly contagious... they spread like wild fire. and also to other people. So she kept them covered. always wearing a onsie or bandaid on the ones that were the biggest. and after a few months they were gone. Im not sure how old your lil guy is but just keep them covered as much as possiable. Good luck! Auntie to a little guy who had it, and got rid of them before passing on to baby sister and 2 older sisters.

My daughter was diagnosed with those as well. At first the doctor said it was warts. Then we went to a specialist and she said it was the mollescum. Anyway, i found this stuff on line. You just dab every bump with it in the morning and at night and within days they start disappearing. The doctor had us cutting the heads out of the bumps at first. That was hurting my 9 year old daughter and i could not do it anymore. She continues to get the bumps, but i just dab it with this stuff and they go away. It is zymaderm. It is all natural products. Just go on line and get a bottle. It was the best thing we ever did. Stephanie had them all over the back of her legs and bottom area. It started spreading to the front. Now, she just got 2 more bumps and i just dab and they will be gone. I assume that we will get them until the virus leaves her body, but a couple are better than tons. Good luck and it really is good stuff and safe and easy.

My daughter was also recently diagnosed with this, she's 8. Our ped told us it could last up to a year. She also said we could take a sterile needles and "pop" it to get the inside out. She said inside each of the bumps is a pearl looking "thing" and that is what you want to remove. My husband popped over 8 on my daughter just this week. It hurt, they bled, and it wasn't pretty. We'll see how they heal up and if they come back. I do just want to point out that she was diagnosed with this about 6 months ago so we just left them alone for quite a while. We waited until she said she was ready for us to pop them.

My daughter had that. The dermotologist's nurse told me to take a tooth pick to the ones that were ready and pop them and put like the pimple med on them. I used the Mary Kay one I had and also coat them w/Rx strength cortisone. The summer will get worse w/sweating and chaffing. You could try what I did. They got better and cleared up.

have you googled natural remedies for Mollescum Contagioum?
I don't know anything about them but I would research the web.
Your Dr. did not give you advice???
D.

Have you googled it? I have and they are extremely contagios. I would ask your peds. what to do but I would also alert other mother's who children your child comes in contact with. Good Luck!!

My nephew had them. Talk to a dermatologist.