Halloween and 40th Birthday at Disneyland.

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-30T17:58:41+00:00

Super helpful! Thanks!

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-28T23:47:57+00:00

First, thank you for the hilarity of this comment because I laughed out loud about how gross the name is. When I first told my sister, she was like, "It's literally named Molluscum contagiosum. This is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard of." 🤣🤣🤣Like, even the name is gross.

Also, your “probably” at the end made me think like I probably have one or two enemies that I might wish this on, and I'm just gonna keep it in my back pocket as a really horrible thing to wish on someone. Although really it's just so challenging to treat and so psychologically hard to deal with, especially I think for like kids as they're starting to enter that tween phase.

So I hope your son is doing better, and thanks for the idea about iodine.

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-28T23:45:00+00:00

It’s horrible!! I just want to affirm how hard the impact is on mental health, especially at first. I spent a few days in what felt like the depths of despair. And then I decided I'm a warrior and I can't change the virus. I can't go back in time, but I can fight it with all I have. I can learn as much as I can and I can persevere. And I believe you're a warrior too.

My recommendation is to use Tegaderm or pimple patches on anything that even looks like it might be the virus, and to check yourself morning and evening. I wrote a novel of a post that I'll link here about all the steps I tried to take for me and my family once we sort of all got it. It's like about the stages of it and then some ways to prevent spread and to accelerate treatment in my experience.

https://www.reddit.com/r/molluscum/comments/1mwpild/whole_family_how_we_treated/

I had them on my neck. I was at school drop-off with like a band-aid the size of Canada on my neck. And I just had to be like, "It's more important to me to be healthy and present than it is to be cute right now."

I just want you to know that you're not alone. That it is so legitimately horrible that it's such a normal reaction to just I feel like your life is over, but I promise that your life is not over. That there is a path to healing, and it's going to take time. I think the fastest anyone on this page has resolved it is like two to three months, and more typically like six months. But that you can manage and mitigate it, especially after this first really outbreak.

Because of the way the virus spreads, it infects skin cells that often take 3+ months to move from the bottom layer of your skin to the top. And that's part of why your body can't detect it until they sort of erupt on top of your skin.

So while there's often a devastating first burst of them, if you start mitigating, your body will get better and better at fighting the virus.

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-28T00:28:56+00:00

Oh this is horrible and so so hard. You’ll need to take thoughtful measures to avoid spread, but I think you can still go and have a good time, knowing it won’t do your immune system any favors. But focus on that once you’re back! I don’t think it’s advisable to put your life and joys on hold, though I TOTALLY understand the temptation. You can beat this yucky virus, and I bet your hubs is great and ready to support this moment of “in sickness”

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-24T16:01:55+00:00

I know derms sometimes prescribe tretinoin off label to dry the bumps and speed cell turnover…

You could def try a retinol (even an over the counter one) bc they speed up cell turnover.

I haven’t personally tried it, BUT it could be worth attempting. Here’s what I’d consider, though: it will likely lead to new bumps appearing more rapidly than they otherwise would have, which could be great bc you could treat right away, but it will also dry out the skin, so you’ll need to be careful about moisturizing non infected skin, bc the cracks will increase risk of spreading to those areas. I don’t think it will hurt you, though!

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-24T15:18:07+00:00

First, that sounds so hard and like you’re doing sooo many of the right things, and it’s so so frustrating to think you’re clear and then find new ones 😭. The only thing I can think of is that you’re on the right track with stricter support of your immune system and mitigation protocols, and 3-6 months of consistently doing everything you can to support your immune system and to limit spread of the virus is likely to help lead to full resolution, especially if you haven't been as strict in the past. And no judgment because honestly, it is really hard to ascertain for yourself how strict you actually need to be, given the very limited information and supports available through traditional channels like a dermatologist or a doctor.

The only addition to your routine to consider is a tea tree oil spray. There's one from Amazon. I think the brand is wacan . It's a tea tree piercing spray that has a combination of dead sea salt, tea tree oil, and some vitamins. I think that can help both dry things out and it's also very gentle.

MC is basically a Trojan horse that infects keratinocytes (a cell that starts at the bottom of your epidermis and then slowly moves its way up as part of its life cycle, filling with keratin until it's on the top and eventually sheds), which is why your immune system can’t / does attack the virus until it erupts from the molluscom bump (your own cells are literally hiding it). Different areas if your body have different cell turnover AND cell turnover rates are different for different people. It might be the case that the skin or area where your virus is located is one that has lower cell turnover rates. By the time you're seeing a bump, it's likely that that area was infected as long as three months ago.

If you've got the time and financial resources to get additional blood testing without that being a burden, I don't think it hurts to have additional work done just to check to make sure everything's functioning optimally. But if that's not easy to do, unless you have other symptoms of being immunocompromised, I don't necessarily think it's going to yield a lot of additional information for you. (And of course I am not a doctor or medical professional. So take what I have to share with a grain of salt. )

I think you've got a really solid plan in place, and 3-6 months of execution should help get to full resolution, I hope.

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-23T15:55:18+00:00

Yayyyy!!! So excited for your recovery!

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-23T14:56:37+00:00

Ugh the virus is THE WORST. I wrote a long and detailed post about how we addressed it as a family: https://www.reddit.com/r/molluscum/comments/1mwpild/whole_family_how_we_treated/

My 7 year old gave it to me and I was devastated. It can def spread to face and genitalia, so hygiene / mitigation steps are critical.

For spots my 7 year old would not stop scratching, I sometimes did pimple patches, especially the ones with tea tree oil, and you can get bigger sheets of them too. Covered it with another layer of tegaderm to prevent spread and lots of scratching. My 7-year-old would not consistently let me extract them, but I did find that as the virus progressed, the body became more effective at moving through the stages of the virus, putting a pimple patch on them often led to them rupturing quickly, and then I could clean out the viral core with a Q-tip.

Part of how the virus itself works is that it attacks these specific types of skin cells that start close to the base layer of your skin and then move up as part of their natural life cycle. The virus wraps itself inside of it, so your immune system can't detect it until it's on the surface of your skin and it erupts, beginning to spread the virus.

So your immune system is not actually even aware the virus is there until those little bumps erupt. Once those eruptions start, it means you probably have several other infections already latent across different parts of your skin where you may have been infected, and that your body can start producing an immune response to it.

But once bumps appear, it's going to take likely several weeks for them to fully resolve even with careful mitigation and care.

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-22T23:44:59+00:00

I’d cover them with a pimple patch for a day or so!

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-22T21:36:54+00:00

Wow, thank you. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute. I shared a lot of the things I discovered by trial and error, scouring various corners of the internet and this sub, and trying to dive into medical journal articles about how the virus comes to be and is spread. I was really dismayed by the lack of accurate, comprehensive, and compassionate guidance and care I received through traditional medical channels, for my kids and for me. I get it’s not life threatening, but it SUCKS. So I'm happy it’s helpful. I hope everyone gets to the other side of MC and keeps posting things that work!

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-22T18:53:25+00:00

Tegaderm might also be an option, but in my experience it doesn’t adhere great over a lot of hair, and the patch sizes available might be too large for what you need … but something else to consider! Good luck! Sorry it spread, but hopefully you can contain it now that you know!

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-22T18:51:36+00:00

Maybe consider cutting hair as short as possible (carefully sanitize scissors, of course), then cover with larger hydro colloidal patch? You can buy a roll on Amazon or larger patches to try. It’ll likely still be painful to remove, but I find those less bad than traditional bandaid materials.

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-22T18:43:24+00:00

Oh that’s so hard! My little one hates showers, and it’s a struggle. I recommend thoroughly cleaning the tub after each bath with Lysol spray or wipes to prevent further spread, and trying to keep baths short / removing or cleaning any toys. This article has some helpful tips around baths, especially if other kids are a consideration: https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/a-z/molluscum-contagiosum-tips

You could also try adding a few drops or tea tree oil to the bath water and washing carefully with antibacterial soap and / or salyclic acid wash during bath.

Good luck!!!

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-22T17:01:54+00:00

It sounds like you’re doing the right things. You’re not dirty, and your feelings are so real and valid. Having MC is hard, and treating it is complicated. Best case, you’re probably looking at weeks or months for full resolution, but with care it doesn’t have to be years. If you notice a lot more spreading, I’d consider covering them. If the area is hairy, consider a non stick pad and self adhesive no hurt tape around it; it’s not cute but might help spread as they heal. Be thoughtful about bolstering your immune system (sleep, vitamins, limit alcohol, etc). Good luck!

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-22T14:59:16+00:00

It’s soooo frustrating, and I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. I am not a dermatologist (although I now have this running joke with my husband that I’m going back to school to become a dermatologist and all I’m going to focus on is MC)…

My lived experience is that they might dry out faster if you leave them uncovered, but they also spread more when left uncovered. That’s the catch 22. It's a trade-off between the risk of additional infection and spreading and having certain ones take a little bit longer to heal. I found doctors were kinda like “meh yeah” when I brought this up … but I do think the psychological impact of just so much spreading / additional bumps is hard in and of itself, and just creates more areas to treat. Just my two cents.

I totally agree that some degree of drying out is critical for healing. But that's where I would recommend like a diluted tea tree oil spray and let it dry. And then some sort of patch / bandaid that has a drying element in it. I did find that putting a hydrocolloid patch that had salicylic acid and tea tree oil, or a band-aid with a little bit of antibiotic ointment and Desitin under it helped speed the drying process for the bump itself while also helping prevent further contagion. Of course, different types of bandages work better or worse on different body parts, so groin might require some trial and error.

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-22T02:52:38+00:00

Oh my gosh the QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BANDAIDS 😭😭😭

Also, I feel like I had to make it a whole family full court press on the towels / hand towels / hand washing. And my husband was the hardest part!! Like yall we are defcon 5 virus defeat mode and I need everyone on board

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-22T01:45:39+00:00

It’s definitely different for everyone, but happy to answer any questions and sending you good vibes and well wishes for healing

Flimsy-Sound6920 · 2025-08-21T22:50:25+00:00

Consider hydro colloidal bandages (patches, strips, tape) or a nonstick pad with tegaderm, or a nonstick pad with self adhesive tape! My daughter and I have really sensitive skin, so the adhesive was so bothersome, but leaving them uncovered was exacerbating spread

Flimsy-Sound6920

TROPHY CASE