On the Lighter Side > Complementary Medicine
What is the treatment for molluscum contagiosum?
JLA:
Hi everyone.
I opened an account on here to share my experience with MC. I first spotted Mollusc 2 years ago on my stomach, ignorantly mistaking it for a pimple, I squeezed it, ( with great difficulty) only to produce a strange white core and an unordinary amount of blood. Fast forward to the next day when I woke up with 40+ of these little assholes all over my genitals and stomach, varying in size/shape.
I researched high and low and tried EVERYTHING, trust me when I say everything. BP, tea tree oil, lemon M, multis, alcohol wipes, salicylic acid 10% - Now let me tell you, this was the worst, i had burns all over my genitals and stomach from this and it did absolutely nothing. If anything I thought it would create a T-cell response to respond to the area, thus intern finding the intruder and killing it...yeah no. Bathing in & drinking apple cider vinegar, which if you haven't figured out, is some idiots idea (ACVx) to soak the lesions in ACV and leave overnight/ for days.
ANYWAY. lets get to the point, I struggled to get rid of these for a little over 8 months, before I went down my own route. If you are brave enough, this will work, I have been clear now for 1.5 years with one lesions here or there that I take care of immediately.
You will need -
100/200x alcohol wipes
Rubber gloves (disposable)
Step one - Put pair of gloves on, pick you first target. Get the lesion UNDER your thumbs so that the core of it is between your nails, pull up and squeeze until the core (which looks like two whitish heads) is on the ends of your thumbs under the gloves, turn the gloves inside out with the core remaining inside.
Step two - the lesion should be bleeding freely, if it is not, you have not gotten all of the lesion. Be wary, the reason for the gloves/ disinfecting is that the core of the lesion is highly contagious and is the reason you will get more if it comes in to contact with your skin. you can opt out of using gloves, I just did because I was paranoid of getting more of these lesions.
Step three - Apply alcohol wipe to area, it will sting, this is good, it will kill any remaining parts of the lesions and disinfect the area.
You get the gist, I had these all over my stomach, and genitals, it was painful getting rid of them and my skin looked like sh1t for a couple of weeks. The red marks from the lesions lingered for a month or two, but they are all gone now, and so is MC!! The feeling of getting rid of all those little barstads was a relief in itself. You will miss one or two, because they will be too small to see and will eventually grow in to a larger lesion, then you can remove it the same way you removed the others.
My MC has never come back, this was the only way I could get rid of them, it was that or Dr's orders of "wait it out".
I don't recommend you use this method on your children, I'm a 22 Y.O man, and it was painful but worth it.
Anyway, I hope this helps, and gives any of you out there some hope, you can beat it, it's easy, just a little elbow grease ;-)
Good luck.
MolluscumKiller:
First, let me just say that I can totally relate to your struggle. My heart goes out to you if you’re struggling with the dreadful virus known as Molluscum Contagiosum. Although I really don’t feel like writing all this out, I told myself that if I ever figured out the best treatment, I would spread the word.
MY STORY. I caught Molluscum Contagiosum in Jiu-Jitsu class about 10 months ago. At first I thought I just had skin tags so I didn’t regard them seriously. Later, when I realized they were multiplying, I began researching symptoms and that’s when I came across testimonies of Mollscum. Although I had never heard of Molluscum, I immediately concluded this was what I had contracted. I later went to a dermatologist (total waste of money) and he confirmed this self-diagnosis.
How did I get it? My first error was shaving before jiu-jitsu class. Jiu-Jitsu is sort of like wrestling. There’s a whole lot of skin on skin contact with your sparring partners. If you’re a male and have Molluscum, don’t shave near areas with lesions! Not even with an electric razor. The only thing you can do is use the “trimmer” accessory which is common on most electric shavers. Sorry, no more close shaves during this time. Shaving spreads the virus.
If you think your Molluscum is bad, please know that I had 100s of lesions on my neck and head (even had a few on my face). I was so depressed that I locked myself in my apartment for a few months (except for going to work) and allowed myself very few social interactions during this time. Even when I was at work, I tried my best to hide my neck with hoodies and jackets. I didn’t want anyone feeling like my presence was a threat to their health.
This meant I didn’t go to Jiu-Jitsu class or fitness gyms of any sort for 10 months. Worst of all, I forced myself to refrain from sex during this time. As bad as I craved it, I just couldn’t allow myself to spread this horrible virus to others. As a 32 year old man with a very high sex drive, this was a very depressing time in my life. Now that my molluscum is gone, ladies, I’m back in the game.
Don’t Waste Money. I wasted many months trying homemade remedies and treatments. Nothing worked. Not even close. The first thing you’ll notice about Molluscum lesions is how stubborn they are. I tried every treatment imaginable from Tea Tree Oil, Zymaderm (don’t waste money on this) and Imiquimod (Aldara) cream. No single ingredient seemed to work. I was so desperate, I literally tried applying 100% acetic acid once. It burned like hell, but not even acid destroyed the lesion. They are very resilient, but buckle up because you’re gonna need to be more even more resilient.
Secret Ingredient. Finally, I discovered the “magical” secret ingredient, Hydrogen Peroxide Cream. This cream works wonderfully on lesions and it’s super cheap (about $3 a bottle). It’s mostly used in hair care products as developer. Just go to your local beauty supply store and ask for peroxide cream 40 power. They come in different potencies (15, 30, 40). Forty power is the strongest available for regular customers. They do make a 50 power but in my state, you must be a licensed beautician to buy the 50 power peroxide cream. Please be advised, however, that the cream does burn and sting. Be careful not to use too much so you don’t permanently scar your skin. Try to apply the cream directly on top of the lesion as opposed to spreading it all around the lesion area. This will help burn the lesion, not the surrounding skin.
How Does It Work? The cream works by drying out the Molluscum. Once the lesion has been significantly dehydrated, you can pluck out the viral center of the lesion with tweezers.
That’s the good news. The bad news, however, is that it’s still no quick fix. After I discovered hydrogen peroxide cream, it still took about 3 months of treatment before my lesions subsided significantly. Why did it take so long? Because after I would destroy one lesion, another one would appear in a different area on my body. I’ve read elsewhere that the virus is contained only within the lesion, but I doubt if this is true because new lesions would appear in different places immediately after destroying one. I wonder if it’s actually contained in the bloodstream.
IMPORTANT: As useful as the peroxide cream was, it didn’t work by itself. I used the ingredients and steps below to maximize the treatment:
1. Panoxyl’s 10% Benzoyl Peroxide Face/Chest/Body wash. It’s available at Walgreens. Shower with this each day. This won’t do much on destroying your existing molluscum, but it did seem to slow down the growth of new lesions. It dries your skin out, but that’s what the next ingredient is for.
2. Dr. Wheatgrasss – Superbalm. When you get out of the shower and your skin is feeling dry and flakey from the benzoyl peroxide wash, use Dr. Wheatgrass’ Superbalm as a moisturizer. I don’t know what it is about Wheatgrass, but this stuff really seems to work. It’s expensive , but over the course of 3 months I really noticed a difference in my lesions. Also, I strongly recommend using the Superbalm, not the Recovery Cream. The Superbalm is 300% more concentrated with Wheatgrass than the Recovery Cream. Although the Superbalm is about $10 more than the recovery cream, you get about twice the product that’s in the recovery cream. I believe the Recovery Cream is about 2.5 oz and the the Superbalm is about 5 oz. Dr. Wheatgrass is an Australian company, but their USA distributor is newbielink:http://www.grassfactor.com [nonactive]
Note: Steps 1 and 2 above should be considered daily treatments. Do these steps every day. The final steps below are performed only when targeting specific lesions.
3. Hydrogen Peroxide. When you want to target individual lesions, I recommend the following:
Wash the lesion(s) thoroughly with Hydrogen Peroxide (a bottle costs less than a dollar). Wash with peroxide, let the lesion dry, and then wash with peroxide again. Repeat 3-4 times.
4. Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV). Once the lesions have been dehydrated with peroxide, soak cosmetic (make-up) cotton pads in ACV. Place the soaked pad on top of the lesion. Cover lesion with Tegaderm Bandages (plastic waterproof bandages). These bandages are expensive (about $15 per box), but don’t gamble with any other bandage. I tried other bandages and even duct tape, but nothing worked as good as Tegaderm. They keep the ACV from drying which increases the amount of time the lesion is soaked underneath the bandage. Leave the bandages on for about 18 hours.
5. Hydrogen Peroxide Cream. After you’ve left the ACV/Tegaderm bandages on for about 18 hours, remove the bandages. If air didn’t get inside the bandage, the ACV should still be moist. Your lesion should look significantly impacted by the ACV. Sometimes it would turn my lesions white, other times black. I believe the black ones were destroyed, while the white lesions still had the living molluscum virus active within. If there are any doubts whether or not you killed the molluscum in the lesion, apply Peroxide Cream (the “secret ingredient” above - Salon Developer 40). You can find this at Sally’s Beauty Supply or any other beauty stores. It’s basically the cream used for developer when dyeing hair. Please be advised that this cream stings and it’s hard to endure, but it definitely works. If you can endure the burn for a couple minutes, this will help dry out the molluscum.
6. Tweeze. Once the lesions have dried out and are deadm use tweezers to pluck out the viral center of the lesions. This is supposed to be the part of the lesion that contains the virus, so be careful with it. Just to be safe, even after tweezing I would apply another dab of peroxide cream.
Conclusion. Again, please give the peroxide cream a try. I think this might be the missing ingredient from all the proposed solutions. My heart goes out to you. Don’t give up. If you ever feel too depressed, go over to Youtube and watch videos about Small Pox and pox family viruses. You could have it so much worse. Molluscum is only a cosmetic hinderance. It’s not going to kill you. Be strong.
adelinejg:
OMG I can't believe some of the treatments everyone has tried and how damaging to the skin they can be.
We have pretty much successfully got rid of my five year old's molluscum which she had for about six months. It was the second outbreak in her life, the first went of its own accord after about four weeks but this outbreak was particularly virilient - it covered most of her torso and was spreading although it didn't seem to bother her - but once it reached her neck and was visible above her school uniform we decided to try treating it.
Both my husband and I try to take a complementary approach to any medical treatment, believing in trying to work in harmony with the body. As far as I can work out from my own research, molluscum is to do with a weakened immune system and so we felt it was appropriate to try firstly to support her immune system by increasing vitamin intake and ensuring her diet was healthy (no sweets!) and she was getting a lot of fresh air.
We had read a lot about Dr Bill Deagle, a US oncologist, who is researching treatments for cancer which are less damaging than chemotherapy etc. He does a small range of products through his company, Nutrimedical, and many of them are suitable for use to treat a variety of conditions. For molluscum he recommends ionised silver (like colloidal silver but better quality/more effective) and a product whcih is basically concentrate extract of garlic, in both a liquid and a cream form. They were quite expensive especially as we had to order from the USA but we thought they were worth trying.
Anyway, the products arrived on a Saturday and we started a three times daily routine of applying first the silver and then the cream topically, and then a number of drops of silver under the tongue followed by some drops of the garlic stuff. Within two days we were amazed! The rate at which the spots cleared up seemed to improve but what was most significant was NO MORE SPOTS!
It's now been just under two weeks since we started treatment and since then we have only had half a dozen new spots. We now have one spot left which is a bit crusty but have had no new ones this week. I would not be surprised if she is totally free of them by the weekend, two weeks after we started the program.
I know this might sound like a pitch for the company but it's not. I would have bought the products in the UK but they aren't available. I know it may be coincidental that the spots have cleared up around the time of the treatment - she also suffers from eczema breakouts and Dr Bill has a treatment for this whcih we are trying now we've got the molluscum sorted so I'll provide a follow up on success rate there.
I'm happy to provide any further info about treatment or where to get it.
morgana:
Hello everyone . its great to find this site, but not so great to see very few (apparently) of my age who have this; and also very few who have it on their FACE! Ive had them for probably 8/9 months and was told by the doc that they would just go away; also that they were not very contagious. They seem to be spreading. Having read this I am starting to drink ACV, but am very reluctant to put it on my face! I have ordered some of the homeopathic cream..... does anyone have any experience with facial MC? I havent until now been using seperat towels and will feel terrible if my family start to exhibit this thing.
I know I am run down and have been drinking aloe vera for months now; shortly hoping to begin Kombucha tea once it has brewed.
yonowantmc:
How old are you Morgana?
My boyfriend was just diagnosed with MC, and I of course freaked out! Anyways, we would frequently share the same towel so that may be one of the major reasons I have it. I have it at the top of my inner thighs and now I'm freaking out because I think I have it on my face. My doctor prescribed Retin-A micro has anyone had success with this prescription?
This is the worst thing ever especially for someone who suffers from anxiety problems life myself, the added stress is NOT needed. Someone help!! :(
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