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Molluscum Contagiosum. The name says much about this iproblem. That second word is the key. These are a viral growths that are highly contagious. It is common for these bumps to spread through a classroom or preschool and sometimes even spread to parents. They are viral in nature but our bodies do develop an immune response to these lesions, unlike their distant viral cousins the wart. The immune response is rapid for some and they only have the lesions for days or weeks. Other people have no immediate response and their molluscum grow and multiply. I have seen many patients with dozens of molluscum and even some with over one hundred. What we do is try and wake the immune system to the foreign nature of these growths and when this happens the mollusum will be cleared by the body, usually forever.      Not a day goes by without a patient coming in with molluscum. Patients are often told the diagnosis by a healthcare professional and then told to not do anything. Wait for the body's response is the frequent recommendation. Wait. While they are waiting, patient's molluscum may multiply. They are by definition contagious, not just from person to person, but also from one area on the body to another. The growths are often clustered in creases and private areas and often get picked at.     Molluscum can grow inwards and form a cyst or abscess. These tend to be tender red nodules and can leave behing scars. A molluscum abscess may need to be drained due to the pain and pus at the site.      The standard of care for molluscum is freezing them with liquid nitrogen. Though cold, this treatment has been used for decades and tends to have an excellent response without scarring. Freezing helps to show the umbilication, or belly button, of molluscum. This central pore in the papules is a cute and unique feature of molluscum. By freezing the lesions, they are left there for the body to learn that they are foreign, and often one round of freezing will bring about the desired immune response. Many doctors still will "scrape" off the molluscum papules with a sharp instrument. This is likely to be accompanied by pain, bleeding and scarring.    I have seen a recent wave of children from Rock Hill and Fort Mill with molluscum. The back to school spread and now the early winter's eczema have led to a small epidemic of the virus.      Molluscum can be a sexually transmitted disease. Usually this is in the high school and college age population and the lesions are grow at the genitalia. The treatment is the same and there are no long term complications like there can be with genital warts or genital herpes.     Though they are often a problem with spreading, molluscum are no danger and they are only likely to get infected when they are picked at. Most adults are immune from a long forgotten exposure and children do need to get their molluscum treated if they don't clear the infection on their own. Â
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