Home treatment option for molluscum

So our 7 year old daughter first got molluscum in Feb 2021. At the time, we had no clue what molluscum was or that it even existed. What we first saw was a large red pimple looking mark on her bottom close to where her bathing suit would sit. When we first saw it we both thought it was odd for her to have a pimple at that young age but we assumed it would go away in a week or so. Well it gained a white head just like a pimple and burst a few days later. We both thought that was the end of it. Boy were we wrong!

About 1-2 weeks later we noticed another pimple looking bump. This one was smaller and again, we didn’t think much of it other than that it was still odd. About 1-2 weeks after that, we noticed whitish looking bumps beginning to appear on the backs of her knees and upper thigh areas. I honestly can’t say how many there were at first except to say that it was only a few and since we had never heard of molluscum neither of us were very concerned and assumed that the bumps would go away in a bit. Again, we were totally wrong! They continued to spread and about 2-4 weeks later (~2 months after the first bump appeared) she had about 10 on the back of each knee and another 10 on the upper portion of each thigh. I honestly don’t know how that many appeared before we became really concerned but it was almost as if they popped up very quickly after the first few. That’s when we started doing some research and determined that she had molluscum. I will fast forward a bit and tell you that it took a total of 12 months for us to completely get rid of them. The next few paragraphs are going to detail some of the highlights (and lowlights) of that year-long struggle.

Once we learned that she had molluscum we started reading the internet to see how others had treated them. We quickly saw that going to a dermatologist would likely not be helpful as most derms think these are harmless and will go away on their own. They prefer not to do any treatment as it can be painful and can sometimes leave scars. So we weren’t going to waste the $100 copay to have a derm tell us that they can’t do anything.

I can tell you that we tried nearly every oil and ointment that was suggested on various websites; Tea tree oil, various ointments from Amazon that claim to “cure” moluscum, Benzoyl peroxide, and the one that we thought was actually doing something, lemon myrtle. I can tell you definitively NONE of these did a darn thing to help our daughter’s molluscum. All they did was make her skin very dry, raw, and painful. We thought that perhaps lemon myrtle was doing something because some of the bumps turned red and went away within several weeks of using the lemon myrtle mixed with olive oil. But now, looking back, this was simply the normal pattern of her body fighting off a few of them but the lemon myrtle likely had nothing to do with it. We even broke down and went to a derm after about 5 months and they prescribed 2 creams (one of them was Desoximetasone) that cost about $100 a tube. They were a complete waste of money.! Don’t get me wrong, if you have found some of these treatments to be helpful for your child that is awesome! But I can say definitively that they do not work for everyone and likely not for most people. And now that we have finally stumbled upon what turned out to be a much cheaper, faster, and less painful way to get rid of them, I would not recommend wasting time or money with any of those topical treatments even if you think they might work.

So here is what we found to absolutely get rid of her molluscum. And I say this with very high confidence because at about month 9 of fighting molluscum on our 7 year old, our 5 year old caught molluscum as well. And this treatment helped prevent our 5 year old from getting nearly as bad of molluscum and it also got rid of them in 2 months rather than the 12 that it took for our 7 year old. The treatment is to buy “tattoo cover” plastic “bandages” and place them over every single bump as early as you can. You can find several brands of tattoo covers on Amazon for much less than anyplace else. I used a 2” wide roll. It was roughly 11 yards long. The cost is very low. I paid ~$6 for the 11 yard roll and that was more than enough for the whole time of treatment. The brand is called HealQu but we ended up using 2 different brands and both seemed to work well. I don’t think that the brand is critical so just buy the one that looks best to you.

I would cut the 2” wide covers into ~1” long pieces but would sometimes go longer if I needed to cover many bumps in the same location. But staying between 1-2” long makes the cover easier to handle and apply. Each bandage would stay on for about 2-3 days depending on what part of the body they were covering. Some areas of the body get more rubbing against clothing and such so would last only 1 day while other parts of the body would stay nicely secured for 3-5 days.

The covering serves 2 important purposes: 1) It helps prevent spreading from the bumps onto clothing, sheets, and other parts of the body 2) It helps to kill the bumps. I’ll provide more info on how these covers help to kill the bumps later.

I did not discover or think about using tattoo covers until about 9 months into fighting our 7 year old’s molluscum. Over those 9 months the bumps continued to spread and only a few went away. When I did finally think about using tattoo covers, it took about 4-6 weeks before I really committed to using them. Since we were trying to use ointments and other topical treatments (mostly lemon myrtle and olive oil by that time), the ointments would prevent the tattoo covers from sticking so I had to choose between using the ointments or the covers. It took about 4-6 weeks before I really noticed that the ones that I was covering consistently were the ones going away.

Once I was finally convinced that the tattoo covers were potentially working, I then went after that fully. I decided that I would try to cover as many bumps as I could with the tattoo covers and see what happened. I would say that this was month 10 or so. (Yes I realize that some people are going to say that the molluscum “starts to go away on its own” around month 10-12 but I can assure you that the tattoo covers absolutely precipitated and accelerated the elimination of the molluscum and I will provide more details in a bit to help prove that.)

Once I started covering all of her bumps I would say that she probably had about 15 per knee and 20 on each upper thigh. She had a few on her stomach area and a few on her back. Thank goodness they did not get up on her face area. So we had a lot of bumps to cover! I can tell you that it took about 2-4 weeks of consistent covering before the bumps started to show any change. And when they did start showing signs of change it did not initially look positive. It seems that when the body starts fighting the molluscum virus, the bump turns red and begins to ooze a very foul smelling liquid. What you will likely see is a clear liquid beginning to “bubble” up under the clear tattoo cover. When we saw this I would get a tissue or small piece of toilet paper. I would then pull the tattoo cover off and use the tissue to absorb the liquid so it does not drip over other parts of the skin or clothing. I would then take another tissue and put a small amount of soap on the tissue and “wash” the area to help prevent any of the virus from spreading. I would then let it air dry and I would reapply a tattoo cover over the bump(s). There would also almost always be a white head. This white head is the actual virus. Sometimes the white head would come off while I was washing with a tissue and other times it would not. The bump will likely be a bit sensitive so I would not recommend rubbing too hard. After a few more days the white head will eventually come off fairly easily. After the white head is gone then the body will begin to heal that bump, the molluscum has been removed and the body can heal.

There was one area on the back of her knees that had about 8 bumps very close together. I put a large ~3”x2” piece of tattoo cover over all of them. After about 4-5 days, all of the bumps started turning red and oozing at the same time. One day large cover got a huge bubble of liquid under it. When I removed the cover and used a tissue to soak up the liquid, it was a terrible smell! I say this to let you know that the bumps will begin to ooze clear liquid that smells terrible! It is ok and a normal part of the process of the body fighting off the molluscum virus. The more bumps you have, the more liquid there will be and the worse the smell will be. With our younger daughter we started this treatment much earlier and she never had as many bumps so the smell was never noticeable.

I will say that about 2 weeks into the process of consistently covering the bumps, they all started turning red within a few days of each other. This was during the time that we noticed the large amount of liquid under the 3”x2” cover described above. In the 3rd or 4th week, all of her bumps (~40-50) started turning red around the same time. I will say that I had second thoughts about what we were doing. They all looked terrible!! Her bumps had never looked so bad. I told my wife that if they looked this bad after another week then we were going to have to take her back to the derm. But as I said, her bumps were all red now and looking terrible! Thank goodness I had read an article about 2 months prior by a doctor who said something like, ‘in the treatment of molluscum, things often look most bleak just before they get better.’ But I was still wondering if this was normal or expected. All of her bumps were very red with white heads and oozing that putrid smelling liquid. It was truly unnerving! But just as I was about to lose my mind, about 2 days later, nearly all of the bumps began to dry up and crust over. It seemed like a miracle. I honestly wasn’t sure if this was a sign that the bumps were dying or just “regrouping”. But as the next week went on, the bumps began to slowly heal and the scab looking layers covering the bumps fell off or went away. At some point I stopped covering them and we started putting moisturizer with vitamin E on them to help the healing process. After another week all of her bumps were “dead” and they were clearly healing. It took about 6 weeks for the red marks to completely go away but after that time you could almost not tell that she had any bumps at all!!

So, why do the tattoo covers seem to work or how do they work? It is first important to know that the human body often ignores the molluscum virus and does not actively fight it. The molluscum virus is not seen as a threat and thus the immune system seems to ignore it. My theory is that the tattoo covers help to irritate the virus bump enough that it “wakes up” the immune system to the presence of the virus. And then the immune system begins to fight the virus at each bump location. Initially the bumps would get red one or 2 at a time and I would wash the bump with soap and eventually the white head would wipe off as well, as I mentioned above. But it seemed that after a while (1-2 weeks or so) of fighting the individual bumps, the entire immune system seemed to “rise up” against all of the bumps at one time. That is the “week from hell” where nearly every bump turned red at the same time and we got so much oozing liquid that smelled so terrible. (Don’t be overly concerned about this. It was a relatively small amount of liquid that accumulated under the tattoo covers. But it smelled rancid!) Her body was fighting “all” of the viruses/bumps all at the same time. It’s as if her body finally said “that’s enough! Get out!! All of you!!!!!”

So my theory on how the tattoo covers help to “irritate” the bumps/virus and thus alert the body to the presence of the virus is one of 2 options or a combination of both. 1) The covers prevent air/oxygen from getting to the virus. I am not saying that this is “suffocating” the virus as I am sure the virus gets enough oxygen from the blood/body but what I am saying is that perhaps by covering the bump, it irritates the virus enough that the body become aware of the presence of the virus and thus begins to fight it. 2) The second potential theory is that the adhesive from the tattoo cover is the mechanism that irritates the virus to the point that the body becomes aware of its presence and starts fighting the virus. Either way, I believe that it is ultimately the immune system that rises up and kills the virus. It is not the tattoo cover that ultimately kills the virus. The tattoo cover is simply a mechanism that helps to “irritate” the bump/virus and alert the immune system that there is something in/on the body that shouldn’t be there and then the immune system begins to fight it.

Even if neither of these theories are correct, I am 100% convinced that covering molluscum bumps with tattoo covers is the most effective (and cost effective) way to treat molluscum. The tattoo covers effectively cover each bump to help reduce the spread of the virus and it seems that the covers irritate the virus/bump enough that the body’s immune system begins to fight off the virus. And I have read that once the immune system has successfully fought off molluscum then it is very unlikely that the person will ever catch it again. Also, keep in mind that the virus can lay dormant for several weeks before it rises up as a bump. So if you are covering every bump and still seeing others appear, that is likely due to the virus having already been in those areas, lying dormant for a couple of weeks before rising up as a bump. Don’t let this discourage you. Cover every single bump that you see! And stay consistent, it will take a few weeks of consistent use on all bumps before the immune system rises up to fight them off.

Now, why am I convinced that the tattoo covers are what caused my 7 year old’s immune system to rise up and fight the molluscum and not simply that it was “12 months”? I have read that the body will eventually rise up and fight off the virus on its own and that this process can take anywhere from 3-18 months. I am certainly not saying that this is wrong but I do believe that the tattoo covers absolutely help to accelerate this process. And I am especially confident because when our 5 year old daughter caught molluscum we initially treated her with the same ointments that we were unsuccessfully using on our 7 year old. Once I fully committed to using tattoo covers on our older daughter I also did the same for our younger daughter. Our 5 year old was about 2 months into having molluscum at the time. She had about 10 total bumps spread over her legs and a couple on her stomach and back. I began covering them all with tattoo covers about 8 weeks after we first noticed hers. I noticed within 5 days that some of them simply disappeared. Now, I can’t be certain that those bumps that disappeared so quickly were not something else. They did not get red and gain a white head as most other bumps. But they certainly looked a lot like molluscum and I personally believe that for some bumps, if the body begins fighting them early enough, before the virus colony grows large enough, then the bumps will simply fade away rather than becoming red and puss filled. But that is just a theory. What I can say is that there is virtually no negative consequence to putting tattoo covers on every bump so even if they were not molluscum, it was better to cover them just in case. (I can say that some areas that we covered with tattoo covers, our younger daughter’s skin got a little red as if the tattoo cover was irritating her skin as well. So you may see some redness around or under the tattoo cover. Monitor this as some people’s skin might be more sensitive than others. We would sometimes put moisturizer with vitamin E around the tattoo cover area after putting it on. The moisturizer soaks into the skin and can help reduce the irritation. But you may have to balance how much the tattoo cover irritates the bumps versus irritates the skin. From what we saw, the bumps went away before the skin got so irritated that we could not use the tattoo cover but each person will be a little different.) Over the next 2-4 weeks or so, our 5 year old’s bumps continued to go away. Some would simply disappear as I mentioned, while most got red and had a white head. She never had enough that we noticed the putrid smell from the liquid discharge. Some of the bumps did have liquid discharge under the tattoo cover but I could not detect a smell. Perhaps it was just not enough liquid for me to smell it. I will say that in the first few weeks, our daughter did get more bumps in other areas that were not covered. I personally believe that these bumps had been “planted” prior to me covering all of the bumps but I can’t guarantee this. I will say that covering the bumps with tattoo covers absolutely does help to reduce their spread. Bandaids do almost nothing. They don’t fit tightly enough to prevent the spread or to cause sufficient irritation of the bumps to alert the immune system to their presence. At the end of the ~6 weeks of covering our 5 year old’s bumps with tattoo covers, her body’s immune system finally rose up and fought off all of the bumps within a few days. We did not have the horrible looking redness and oozing that we saw on our older child. Again, this is likely because there were way fewer bumps. But the 5 year old’s body did finally rise up and fight off all of the bumps. Her bumps are now healing and the redness is almost gone.

Yes, some people might say that our younger daughter’s immune system was simply stronger or rose up and fought the bumps earlier than 12 months. I cannot definitively refute this potential. But what I can tell you is that the tattoo covers absolutely help to reduce the spread of the virus and, based on the experiences I listed above, I believe the tattoo covers help to irritate the virus and alert the body’s immune system to its presence. The immune system then rises up to eliminate all of the viruses from the body. I absolutely believe that consistently using the tattoo covers accelerates this process immensely and is one of the most inexpensive and easiest treatment methods available. I hope that parents will read this and try it themselves and hopefully benefit from it. I also hope that doctors/scientists may read this and conduct more in depth studies to help understand the potential benefit of using tattoo covers for the treatment of molluscum and the mechanism of how it works.

Ultimately it is up to you, the parent or patient fighting molluscum, to decide if you want to try this treatment. If you do, consistently stick with it for at least 8-10 weeks. Observe, learn, and adjust as needed. Communicate what you experience and observe to help others who are fighting this disease. Good luck in your treatment journey and I wish you all a quick recovery.

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