Help, getting really down about Molluscum

Same situation. Somebody really needs to do more testing on this crap and quit labeling it as a "benign, mild rash"! I'm gonna just keep burning those suckers down as they present smh. It gets sooo old.

Oh no - really?? That is ridiculous!! I am going about 3 weeks without a new one showing up. I even cancelled my liquid nitrogen appointment because I don't have any new ones. Just keep burning them off one by one. The last doctor I saw told me to be very minimal about treatement because the more irritated the skin, the more likely the bumps will return. So just stick to one treatment for now, maybe that will help?

So glad that its cleared up for you and fingers crossed no more do.

Ive just had one pop up. Nothing this yesterday and now yup.

Ive probably got just one or two so loads better than it used to be.

Just keep telling myself must be almost done!

Can I ask how long you have had it for now? I am in to 8 months now seems a life time haha

I got my first one in May. So around 7 months. You are definitely on the way out. From everything I've read, when you get to the point where just one or two are popping up, then it's almost done. Just keep burning them off and it should go away soon! Another thing I should mention is that last month, I ended up getting a yeast infection on my skin in the same area where the mollescum was. My doctor said it was from all the mollescum medication messing up the PH of my skin. So definitely try to keep treatment minimal!

hi linda

do you burn them off yourself? if so how?

Hi so sorry to hear you have it too. Well i havnt looked for ages as i thought I was ok now but I have just looked and I have one right by my bum entrance and can feel another one on my inner thigh 😢 I feel like crying right now.

I wish it would go away. I will try get them frozen as soon as I get some time.

Ive been dating someone for a while now and really hope this doesn't scare him off as we thought it was gone.

What treatment have you been doing?

oh no! I'm so sorry to have brought your attention back to it!

I've done everything from getting them burnt off by my dermo to home treatment using my own burning kit. I'm also taking cimitidine 2 times a day.

I was wondering, do you think things like alcohol and what not make this condition worse. Because I didn't drink for months and it didn't go away, now I've started drinking again if I go out to a party etc and I'm worried it'll make it worse again...

I feel it just has to run its course and the treatments will just help it speed up a little!

Thats ok its better to know. Not sure about the alcohol ive never stopped but I dont drink a lot. I havnt been drinking as much water but its harder when its cold.

Im confused why i have them in places they havnt been before and where there havnt been any for ages. So it may be due to ive upped my running and did along treck the other day. Maybe the friction.

I think your right it just has to run its course.

Let me know how things go

Just a word to the wise - definitely keep treatment to a minimum. The more stuff you try, the more irritated your skin will get. I've been told repeatedly that it gets worse with stress and with irritation. So that is why lots of doctors recommend not treating it - because it will not do well with an aggressive approach. I went crazy with treatment and ended up with multiple skin infections because of it. Fortunately it is all healed now. I suggest just burning them off and nothing more. Keep burning them until they are gone.

I was so stupid before i read your msg and put a tiny bit if tea tree oil on and my skin has flared up bad itchy and red. So angry with myself but panicked.

The ones i put it on look really small just tiny white bumps im not 100% sure if they are or not or just from friction from running.

I should have waited to see what they did first.

Do you have any like this?

Hi Gemma

Which freezing treatment from boots do you recommend?

I hope you get better soon.

Thank you Roger. I've been buying the Wartie advanced. Wart and verruca remover extra strong freeze spray. Just be careful on areas with thinner skin. I've had done those at the clinic as it seems to get get really sore, possibly as you have to hold it on the molluscum wheres as the clinic its a spray.

Good luck and hope yours clear up soon.

thanks Gemma and hang in there! it will go soon

does anyone know if its a good sign the bumps that come get smaller - mine are now barely visible but still coming - what does that mean? or does it just mean I'm catching them earlier and they arent growing?

Hope someone can shed some light on your query.

I've got one normal sized one and i have a cluster of small ones. im wondering and hoping they are just hair follicles not molluscum starting. Going for the watch and wait on those for a bit.

Hi Gemma

does the worty wort advanced stuff from boots work with one application ie does the mollescom just die from it?

im getting more and more of the things daily tiny but every day more after 3 weeks of none

Sometimes first time but most started to come back and needed two or sometimes three times.

How long have you had it for now?

I also get a lot of folliculitus so I like to wait a bit now before I zap as I think i was zapping stuff that wasn't molluscum.

The outbreak did get worse before suddenly getting better.

Hey - no I don't have any new ones now (not for at least 2 months). But I really paid the price at the end of my mollescum time. My skin was destroyed - yeast infections and ulcers - all from trying too much treatment. The last doctor I saw said only liquid nitrogen and nothing else. She said not to even think about it. This method is what finally worked. I stopped worrying about it entirely and just burned them off. So far, no new ones. Yours sound so small, they might be folliculitis. I think just wait and see before panicking.

Yeh i have to agree that the day i stopped worrying so much about them and just kind of accepted it (stayed active with treatment but didnt check every 5 hours whether i had new ones)...i actually stopped getting as many!

I guess extra stress and constantly thinking about it probably doesnt help the immune system!!

thanks Gemma im unsure how long its been as i thought it was follicilitis to begin with so just left it then dr saw it and said thats MC i didnt even know what MC was, afew weeks ago he burned them with liquid nitrogen and said they would disappear he didnt even mention i might get more - the initial ones disappeared but small ones have come in other places literally the size of a pinhead - left alone i think they will grow and maybe spread even more.

i read taking tweezers to them and just physically removing them was a good idea, but its a mixed bag.

the dr wont see me every day to burn them

im very scared

so hard to stop worrying but i understand you are probably right

thanks

so liquid nitrogen you only got them burned off by a dr - how regularly did you go or how quickly after a new bump appeared would you get it burned off?

Its really hard not to get obsessed by them even though they are harmless it does have a mental effect on you.

I had to go to the clinic and they would only see me every three weeks to give the skin chance to heal. Sometimes id spray them myself in between if it was obv coming back as i dint want to wait.

No matter what the docs say it is really crap and ive had mine for nine months now. Just keep at it. I did go a few months at the start without doing anything as i dint realise it would come back and more appear.

thanks Gemma

so you have been freezing them at a clinic every 3 weeks for 9 months and still have them?

is there nothing else that can be done?

no one seems to take it seriously at the drs - its all i can think about

I first went in April and thought that I would be fine after and forgot about it until the summer, Aug time when I started dating someone but I said I couldn't have intercourse and eventually and obviously that ended so I started going every three weeks from Aug / Sept until December. I have not been back since before Christmas.

If any of the bumps I have noticed turn into molluscum then I will go back next week. The one by my bum I am really not fussed about as long as more don't pop up else Ill be straight back there.

The amount of times they told me I dont need to do anything is crazy and once I burst out in tears in the waiting room as I went one day to soon and they said I could not get them frozen. They did change their mind after the crying haha.

I do believe they are on their way out but unfortunately I do think what they say between 6 - 12 months is correct and we just have to keep on top of it.

I am hoping and praying the guy I am dating at the moment does not catch it or it put him off as it caused me so much anxiety and lost my confidence last year.

thanks for the reply Gemma and sorry to hear its been so long - I really hope it all goes away for you now.

lots of good advice on this website - doesnt look like anyone cures it very quickly though as the bumps tend to come back even if small.

i completely understand the anxiety it causes and how you can lose your confidence on it - hopefully it will be a distant memory like it is for the other guy posting on here!

🤞🤞 It all clears up for everyone soon. Keep me posted

Hey mate,

it's deff a tough road ahead and as gemma and Linda have both said, it's crappy that there isn't much info out there on it. So to help answer some of your questions, I'll tell you what I know about it.

so the reason there is very little info is because it's technically very harmless. So the health world just brushes it to the side as they go, it can't kill anyone so why stress and it goes away eventually so why bother putting money into it.

What they don't understand is that it is very hard on the individual who has them both mentally and physically. So what I will say is, I know we are all strangers but you aren't alone here! keep your head up as hard as it is to do on certain days (I know I had a lot of days of real sh*ttyness) and post on the forums whenever you need to ask or vent.

It will go away. For some people it takes 3 months, for others a year and a half etc. The reason doctors do treatment to the bumps is because the idea is that when you irritate the bump, it can kick start the immune system into realising they shouldn't be there. However you can never predict when that will actually happen. So just stay on top of treatment, stay positive, live a healthy lifestyle to boost your immune system, take vitamins (I take a multivitamin at night and a zinc tablet in the morning) and just hope it goes away!

All the best mate!

This is all 100% true! Good summary. I just want to add that this forum was amazing for the support, but I got kind of crazy trying to do everything in the book to make them go away. I ended up really injuring myself in the process. So please be gentle with your skin. Do not go overboard. I would just stick with liquid nitrogen every 2-3 weeks. You can go to the doctor for the main sessions and then get some at the store to freeze new ones that come up between sessions.