molluscum for 16 months now in 40 year old male

[spaniels]

Question about Molluscum-going on 16 months. I

[cathy100225]

A related discussion, Molluscum contagiosum was started.

[spaniels]

Thanks for your reassurance and for following up with this thread again.  This forum has been very useful.  Much appreciation.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Sometimes what happens is this:  there are small, red spots about which it's really hard to tell whether they are residual mollusca, red spots left over from freezing, etc.  So when the doctor sees that the patient is really concerned about molluscum, he or she just says, "What the heck, I'll freeze it anyway, just to be sure."  The problem with this is that it reinforces to the patient that the mollusca are still there, and if the patient is paranoid, it gets worse, they pick, there are red marks, and the circle goes round again.  I'm pretty sure that's what's been going on with you, at least lately.  That's why I think it's best to let things alone for an extended period, so that the marks that are there will fade enough to make it clear that the mollusca are gone.

Good luck.

Dr. Rockoff

[spaniels]

Thanks for the response Dr. Rockoff.  I will keep my hands off the MC.

The characteristic bleeding I mentioned is this:  When I first popped the hard molluscum core with my fingernails, blood beads up in a sphere and then bleeds/flows more profusely then I'd expect from popping a zit or something.  I read one or two other people's account of this type of bleeding from (alleged) molluscum on internet sites.  I don't know that molluscum do this uniquely.

The initial outbreak that I had looked like hard white-heads bursting through pink inflammed blemishes.  To me, comparing to internet 'textbook' pictures, it didn't  look like molluscum - but I'm no doctor and have no experience to compare with.  More recent outbreaks after those initial ones didn't have the prominent hard white-heads & looked more similar to textbook molluscum pictures to my untrained eye.

You're absolutely right. It is time to move on.  Just want this chapter to end & to be confident that I'm clear and date again.  (My second dermatologist has been finding and freezing MC on some visits as  recently as last July - so I don't think it's just my paranoia or vigilance - but wondering if the blemishes are indeed MC).  Differential diagnosis????

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

I am not the least bit sure that the "blemishes" you describe are mollusca any more.  For instance, you say that you you "popped another on my abdomen a couple months later with characteristic bleeding."  Characteristic of what?  Mollusca are hardly the only things that bleed when you pop them.  I think your dermatologists are trying to tell you to stay away for longer periods so you can see that these "blemishes" aren't mollusca, because they fade.  But of course they won't fade if you keep popping them.

So:  Please leave your skin alone and stop looking.  Do this for 4 weeks, not less.  At that point, if you still see anything that concerns you, show it to a doctor, but do not pop them first.  If you do, nobody will be able to tell what they are.

Time to move on, my friend.

Dr. Rockoff