Molluscum and masturbation

[mafi]

I have had molluscum for over a month now. Went through the first treatment (burning) and they came back. This time they are really tiny. Although the first time, the lesions were on my pubic area, penis and scrotum.. this time they seem to only be on my penis (at least from what I can see).

I want to know the following:

1. While I no longer am sexually active, can I still masturbate without risking spreading it further?
2. I have been drinking beer regularly.. is it really helpful to stop drinking, in order for the immune system to kick this thing out for good?
3. What treatment is available that does not involve needles (freezing? does that involve an injection followed by freezing or ?)
4. The scars I have from the first treatment of the burning.. will they ever go away? The way they look right now, I doubt I can persuade anyone to give me oral sex again.. ever :(

[stillHurting]

One word to the wise, even Aldara usually causes a bit of a skin reaction when you use it.  It basically makes the immune system kick in and that usually causes some redness, swelling, etc.  The Retin-A or the Duofilm both basically try to destroy the molluscum chemically, so they more or less eat away the skin in that area.  Unfortunately, no method is particularly without it's effects.

I can see where your dermatologist is coming from with the cauterization, you can cauterize a very small area as opposed to freezing.  But it's my understanding that freezing is the less likely of the two methods to scar.  I've actually had something cauterized before (a skin tag, not a wart) and it left no scar, so it's too bad you're having more of a problem with that.

[mafi]

The doctor did mention a cream that is used for warts, but did say that it has a 50/50 chance of working. I said no and opted for the quickest and surest.. and in his opinion, burning was. I find that odd for a dermatologist, as he should care for the skin's condition. The reason he did not prefer the freezing method is because of something about it not being small enough.. or something about it freezing larger areas than the lesions themselves and cause unnecessary damage to my skin. So, it was an issue of tools not being available to target the lesions alone, without damaging the surrounding area.

The doctor also gave me some liquid called Duofiilm, which comes with a brush. He said to be careful not to get it on the surrounding skin, so I never used it. It smells terrible and he said something about it being an acid. I sure don't feel like putting acid on my penis.

The lesions I have right now are very small and hard to find. Is this a good thing? I will ask about the cream and see if that resolves the issue, as I am really growing tired of this thing.

Thanks for your help!

[stillHurting]

1)  You have to be careful, you can spread the lesions if you say rupture one while masturbating.  They can be spread by touch.

2)  Not very much, most of those immune boosting methods are not terrible effective.  However, drinking less beer seems like a worthy goal in itself.

3)  Freezing doesn't usually involve an injection.  You can also have them cauterized, or sliced off.  But freezing is the most common because it works well, and hurts less than cauterizing with little chance for scaring.  I assume you had them cauterized (burned) first then?  You could also choose to treat them chemically, say using Aldara (usually used for warts but thought to be effective here as well), or Retin-A.

4)  There are treatments you can use to reduce scaring, I'm not sure what they are but you could ask the Dr who is treating you.