OT - Do your kids have this?

[chrisn]

My 12 year old had this and I FREAKED and took him to the dermatologist. They were all on his trunk under his shirt and he had like maybe 5. The dermo frooze them off and I took him home. They did not leave scars at all...but like 2 or 3 months later, he got 5 more and so I took him back again and had those ones froze off. What at PITA! I am glad he didn't get any where they were visible. How awful!

 

[crisi]

My DD has no scars from the beetlejuice. Derm Ped said scarring comes from scratching/scraping when they itch, get infected etc. With the bettlejuice it causes a very small blister to form which then pops. Key is to avoid scratching, keep blisters clean and avoid infection (for this reason they don't use bettlejuice near genitals as there is risk of bacteria getting into the blisters as they heal). My DD had none on the face but they did tell me they would never use Aldara or bettlejuice on the face.

If scarring is a major concern, you can treat just a few with the beetlejuice to jump start the immune system. Really that is what you are trying to do - get the body to fight them off - and you can either wait it out or try something to get things cleared sooner.

I do think curettage and freezing leave scars.

Mine has a scar from beetlejuice. From just one treatment on one bump. Its a little scar, but it makes you understand why not all doctors choose to treat.

We've had no itching.

 

[ColleenG]

My DS4 jsut had a bunch, at least 30, scraped off. The derm told use to put a lidocaine cream on 1 hour before the appt and cover the spots with a bandaid or saran wrap. Some of the larger spots are still raised but scabed so I am hoping they don't come back. Unfjjortunately in all the mayhem of trying to scrape them he missed a few. He has to go back next week for a follow up, so I don't know if he will want to scrap those. We tried Aldara for about 3 months and it did nothing. None of his "bumps" ever popped. Our pediatrician told us it was contagious among the person it was on so we didn't bother to stop bathing DS4 with DS2. Now it looks like DS2 is getting it. DH doesn't want to bother with the Aldara, but I want to try it since it hasn't gotten as bad yet. I really don't want to have him have to get them scrapped. Maybe time to look for another pedi derm.

 

[gardenergirl]

My daughter had this. The pediatrician was our first stop, but he didn't do anything about it, didn't offer any treatment, or a diagnosis. Finally I took her to a dermatologist. Did the beetle juice thing every month or two for about 6 months, they just kept coming back. Derm was thinking the beetle juice (totally forget what the "real name" is), would stimulate the immune system, but evidently didn't work that way for her. Also suggested buying the ceravue (may have misspelled) lotion for dry skin, to pat dry instead of rub after bath/shower, etc. DD didn't mind the treatment as we just took the day off from school-it has to sit on the skin for a certain number of hours and then you wash it off, and went shopping and out for lunch. Wasn't so much fun when the bumps were on her armpits (blisters on the armpits-ugh) She doesn't have any scars, and no bumps for quite a while-I had actually forgotten about them when I read this thread.

We changed pediatricians soon after because she just had a few when I pointed them out to him, and by the time I took her to the derm she had a bunch. In hindsight I should have just skipped the ped and gone to the derm. Live and learn...

 

[WantToGoNow]

My ds8 had them a couple of years ago. They were confined to his stomach area and seemed to get worse over the coarse of a couple of months. They ended up freezing them a couple of times before they finally went away. He does still have a few scars on his stomach from them.

My dd6 is just clearing up now. She started getting them back in January of this year and they were all over her inner thighs and her ******l area. The doctor did not want to freeze or treat them in that area and said it would be best to let them be and let them clear on their own. We did put cream on her that made them stop itching. They are all pretty much gone now but she does still have some nasty looking red marks from them.

 

[WallE]

DS struggled with this for many months. He was miserable and said the spots itched terribly. Our ped recommended leaving them alone, but as they continued to spread and get worse (he also has excema and had probably 100 spots), we made an appointment with a dermatologist. She gave him Differin gel (a form of Retin-A) to apply once daily. After a month or so, the bumps were completely gone with no scarring at all. There was no discomfort with the treatment.
We were amazed at how painless and easy it was to get rid of the molluscum after he had suffered with it for so long--I wish we had gone to the dermatologist first!