This helps prevent spreading the infection to other people. Before going into a swimming pool, hot tub, or sauna, take the following precautions : You can easily infect other people if you go into a pool, hot tub, or sauna while you have molluscum bumps.
To reduce this risk, dermatologists recommend the following:. Take extra care when using pool equipment, such as kickboards and pool noodles, making sure that the bumps are always covered.
Cover all molluscum bumps before participating in any other sport. High school athletes get molluscum contagiosum during sports, such as wrestling, basketball, and football. To prevent spreading molluscum to others:. Avoid sharing gear, such as pads, helmets, and baseball gloves. Bathe a child who has molluscum separately, using different washcloths, bath toys, and towels for each child. Bathing children together is a common way to spread molluscum from one child to another. Let a child with molluscum sleep alone.
Make sure children with molluscum have their own personal items, such as towels, washcloths, bedding, and clothe s. This helps prevent spreading the virus from one child to another. Stop sharing personal items. People can get molluscum from skin-to-skin contact and when they touch infected items. When the person who has molluscum stops sharing clothes, razors, towels, washcloths, and other personal items, this reduces the risk of spreading the virus to others.
If molluscum bumps appear in the genital area, stop sexual activity and see a board-certified dermatologist or your healthcare provider. The rash usually doesn't cause long-term problems or leave scars. Often, the best way to handle it is to be patient, as hard as that might be. Reviewed by: Melanie L. Pitone, MD. Larger text size Large text size Regular text size. What Is Molluscum Contagiosum?
The rash is the telltale sign of molluscum. Its bumps: Start as very small spots about the size of a pinhead. Grow over a few weeks. They can be as large as a pea or pencil eraser. Are soft and smooth and may have a small dent in the center. Can get infected with bacteria if people scratch or pick at them. Can appear alone or in groups, or rows. Most people get between 1 and 20 bumps. Each spot is frozen for seconds, so that a layer of ice forms over the spot and surrounding skin.
You may need several sessions of cryotherapy before each spot clears completely. You'll need to wait 2 to 3 weeks between each treatment session. Diathermy uses heat to remove the spots. The area being treated is numbed with a local anaesthetic and a heated electrical device is used to burn off the spots.
Curettage removes spots by scraping them off with a thin, metal, spoon-like instrument called a curette. As with diathermy, you may have a local anaesthetic before having this type of treatment. Pulsed-dye laser treatment is a relatively new type of treatment for MC. It uses a powerful beam of light to destroy the cells that make up each spot. You may experience some skin discolouration and discomfort in the treated areas, but this should improve within a few weeks.
The procedure may need to be repeated several times to clear all of your spots. Pulsed-dye laser treatment uses expensive equipment and its availability on the NHS is limited. You'll probably have to pay privately for the treatment, which can be expensive. Page last reviewed: 03 September Next review due: 03 September Topical treatments There are a number of topical treatments creams, lotions and ointments that can be used to treat MC, although there's not enough evidence to know if any particular treatment is more effective than the others.
Potassium hydroxide Potassium hydroxide is a medicine available in liquid form that can improve MC by breaking down the skin cells infected by the virus, allowing the immune system to tackle it. For more information, see Website Privacy. Skip to navigation menu Skip to content. High Priority Alert. Close alert. Informational Alert. Is this your child's symptom?
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