Molluscum Contagiosum - Treatments

Treatments

Individual molluscum lesions may go away on their own and are reported as lasting generally from 6 to 8 weeks, to 2 or 3 months. However via autoinoculation, the disease may propagate and so an outbreak generally lasts longer with mean durations variously reported as 8 months, to about 18 months, and with a range of durations from 6 months to 5 years.

Treatment is often unnecessary depending on the location and number of lesions, and no single approach has been convincingly shown to be effective. It should also be noted that treatments causing the skin on or near the lesions to rupture may spread the infection further, much the same as scratching does. Nonetheless, treatment may be sought for the following reasons:

• Medical issues including:
  • Bleeding
  • Secondary infections
  • Itching and discomfort
  • Potential scarring
  • Chronic keratoconjunctivitis
• Social reasons
  • Cosmetic
  • Embarrassment
  • Fear of transmission to others
  • Social exclusion

Many health professionals recommend treating bumps located in the genital area to prevent them from spreading. The virus lives only in the skin and once the growths are gone, the virus is gone and cannot be spread to others. When treatment has resulted in elimination of all bumps, the infection has been effectively cured and will not reappear unless the patient is reinfected. In practice, it may not be easy to see all of the molluscum contagiosum bumps. Even though they appear to be gone, there may be some that were overlooked. If this is the case, one may develop new bumps by autoinoculation, despite their apparent absence.