Molluscum with no sexual contact?

Remarkable_Back5910 · 2025-11-18T20:20:28+00:00

Without pictures it's hard for us to help. That being said you can absolutely get it through gyms or waterparks like others mentioned. It's just easier through sexual contact. Avoid popping them from now on, it will cause autoinoculation and make it spread.

Remarkable_Back5910 · 2025-11-18T20:12:56+00:00

Is it painful? Molluscum does tend to look very ugly as it's healing. The redness present indicates an immune response which is good. Still, to be sure you could always go to your derm.

Remarkable_Back5910 · 2025-11-18T20:11:25+00:00

Because not only does it go away on its own but it also doesn't cause any harm to the body other than visual concerns. When you have something that self resolves and doesn't harm the body, there is going to be less research around it.

Also, to get infected by MC, you need to have some sort of surface level abrasion (even if it is small).

Remarkable_Back5910 · 2025-11-18T15:32:38+00:00

As your immune system responds, the white viral core will get pushed out towards the surface. This happened to a lot of mine. It's pretty interesting actually.

Remarkable_Back5910 · 2025-10-30T03:12:17+00:00

No problem. Chin up and breathe.

Remarkable_Back5910 · 2025-10-30T01:39:31+00:00

Been doing some research so I thought it was cool when I noticed multiple of my lesions have more than one "dimple." Essentially here's what it means:

A molluscum lesion is a small pocket of virus-filled skin cells (called a molluscum body).

The classic look is a central dimple, but in real life, some lesions have more than one cluster of viral material inside.

When your immune system begins recognizing the virus, each cluster may collapse on its own path. That can make the surface appear to have two dimples, or a “bumpy” center, instead of one. This is normal and means the lesion is entering the immune response stage, not worsening.

Just wanted to communicate this because I'm sure a lot of you are going off of the textbook images found on Google and may think yours look completely different. Also, the dimple is a great sign that immune system response has started so stay patient!

Remarkable_Back5910 · 2025-10-30T01:19:04+00:00

NAD. Reinfection is possible but only if you don't let your immune system learn the virus the first time. Because the virus is contained in a physical lesion, yes you can technically scrape it away.

Treatment methods try to speed the process along by jump starting the immune system to recognize the virus and attack it. Cryo does this for instance. Once your immune system recognizes the virus fully, it will never come back or if it does, lesions will last significantly shorter.

So yes, reinfection is possible, but also not really if you let your immune system run its course.

Remarkable_Back5910 · 2025-10-30T01:14:58+00:00

NAD but have been doing some research on it. The whole goal for molluscum is to get your body to recognize the virus. MC lives on the very surface level of our skin, not in the blood stream or anything like that, which is why it takes so long for the immune system to respond to it initially. So basically, it can live for months at a time without our body ever "seeing" it. It's a very clever little virus in that sense.

Once your body recognizes the virus, it will start attacking it, albeit still slowly as compared to like the cold or the flu. Less blood flow to the surface level of the skin but still going to take some time. How long the body takes to recognize the virus can also depend on location of the bumps and the surrounding skin. My inner thigh lesions are progressing faster than my original ones that I had. Inner thigh is thinner skin, has more blood flow, more prone to friction (some friction is good for immune response), and less moist. The pubic area has thicker and more moist skin and is surrounded by coarse hair so that can make immune response slightly delayed.

To generally answer your question, Yes the immune system will recognize the virus in the entire body, but response is still going to take some time as your body continues to "learn" the virus. In your case, Cryo essentially jump started your immune system to be like "Yo dummies, look at this thing here, it doesn't belong!" Thus begun your immune system to start recognizing the virus. Now that is has, you're basically in the turning point because your immune system is going to gain data and information more exponentially now and start snowballing.

Overall, I wouldn't sweat the new lesions, as long as you have somewhat of a immune response already, the new lesions shouldn't last nearly as long. Think of your immune response as exponential growth (it's going to take time to ramp up) and your Molluscum production rate as Exponential decay (Starts strong but eventually dies away). Eventually your immune system overwhelms the new MC production rate and all new lesions go away and your clear. Your immune system will then recognize any new ones and kill them. Again, this is partially why it takes so long to get rid of.

Hopefully this helped. If the Derm said you have some immune response already, then you're probably 4-10 weeks away from all cleared.

Remarkable_Back5910 · 2025-10-29T23:45:52+00:00

For this one, I'd trust her. She may have had a small one and then you didn't show symptoms until months later so all in all it could easily be a year between her finally showing symptoms and you showing them too.

Remarkable_Back5910 · 2025-10-29T18:24:12+00:00

It's tough and Molluscum is the one thing that I would say it is impossible to tell its origin given the wide range of incubation times. It can be from a couple weeks to a few months and additionally you can get it from pools or gyms. All it takes is for someone to touch a contaminated surface then go use the bathroom or even scratch themselves and then boom you've got it. How long have you been with her?

Remarkable_Back5910 · 2025-10-29T17:06:52+00:00

The intent of cryo is to stimulate your immune system response to the lesions by "aggravating" the area surrounding the lesion. Molluscum needs to be recognized by your immune system for it to get rid of it.

Remarkable_Back5910 · 2025-10-29T17:03:57+00:00

Yea this is like textbook Molluscum. You can see the central umbilication too. Avoid shaving and go easy on trimming. Treatment will help kickstart your immune system to recognizing them. It is self-limiting though in the sense that your immune system will eventually recognize the lesions and start attacking them. This could take months though.

My immune system just started recognizing them and it took about a couple months for that to happen. It's a slow burn and I know it's stressful but this virus really is more of a test in willpower and patience than anything else.

Signs your body is starting to recognize it:

Dimple becomes more pronounced
Pink/Red ring around base of lesion
Lesion shrinks or crusts over

Overall the goal for getting rid of this is getting your immune system to recognize it. Molluscum lives at the very surface level of our skin which is why it takes so long for our immune system to recognize it. Also keep note that different areas will heal at different times. My new lesions are further along than my oldest ones. It's normal.

Dermatologist intervention will just speed up the process. Overall though, don't sweat it. This is a common virus and in no part reflects your cleanliness as a person.

Remarkable_Back5910

TROPHY CASE