Over a year ago "C" got these little white bumps on the back of his legs... They didn't seem like a big deal but at any given time some of them would be irritated and red so he would itch them. I took him to a P.A. and she told me about Molluscum and said they are very common in kids and that there's not much you can do but they would just go away in a few months. She even had a hand out ready to go with the information on them because they were so common! She also told me they were contagious and would spread but since there's nothing you can do about them (besides freezing them off and that would be incredibly painful and would leave scarring) there was no point in really worrying about them. Eventually they would go away. Here's a close up of some of them... The red one is inflamed and the little white bumps were what they looked like most of the time.
I gave it about a month and saw no change, if anything he had more so I decided I would get him into the dermatologist to see if they had a magic cream or something. I couldn't get into our normal doctor so I made an apt with a PA at another dermatologists office assuming she would maybe have more experience with this pesky virus. She was very helpful and told me that he had eczema, even though his skin wasn't red and didn't look irritated that because of the eczema his skin wasn't able to fight of the Molluscum. Her thought was that if we healed his skin from the eczema then Molluscum would go away. So she gave me a prescription for a body oil to use on his whole body and a cream to put on the areas with the Molluscum. I used these products every night for a few weeks and still nothing...
Throughout that time I had also tried tea trea oil and a face wash for acne that I had read would help. Neither of those things seemed to make a difference at all.
Finally I found a few blogs that recommended using Apple Cider Vinegar! At this point I was willing to try anything. One blog I saw said you should soak a tiny piece of cotton in the ACV and put it on the Molluscum and put a band aide over it for about 6 hours. I tried that on some of them but there were so many it was time consuming and started to irritate his skin. So I tried the advice of another blog and they said ACV baths! I figured at this point I had to give it a shot, nothing else was working and basketball was coming up so he wasn't going to be able to wear pants forever. So we started that and I noticed a difference after a few days... here's what we did..
Every night he would shower and wash his hair etc.. Then once he was all clean I would start the bath. He only had them on his legs so I would fill the bath up just enough to cover his legs with warm water and then pour in about a cup and a half of the ACV. I'm not even talking about expensive ACV from the health food store.. I'm talking about the cheapest stuff in the gallon size from Raley's or Target! $3 a gallon! I wouldn't measure it.. just pour for a few seconds. He would mix it all around and sit in it for about 10 minutes. We wouldn't rinse or anything after, just pat dry. I would put lotion or body oil on his whole body after the bath.
I noticed all of the white bumps started reacting to the ACV. They all turned red and the lotion helped him not to itch them. With all of the Molluscum reacting to the ACV at the same time it was a little bit alarming because it looked so bad. I just kept it up because I knew this was part of the process to them dying. Finally after about a month they are gone! We did a ACV bath every single night for about three weeks. I still do them about two times a week to make sure there aren't any hiding and also to prevent any new ones from coming. I am so happy to finally have this behind us and to know of a solution that will work if any of my other kiddos get it!
Here are a few more tips I have to keep Molluscum from spreading*
-Wash your hand with antibacterial after treating the Mollusucm
-Try as hard as possible not to touch or itch the Molluscum... The contagious part is in the white bump and if breaks open that is what will make it spread.
-Never re wear clothing that has touched the Mollusucm. We wash EVERYTHING after wearing it once to make sure its not spreading.
-My son had it on his legs so after the ACV bath and lotion he was only allowed to wear pajama pants to bed. No shorts.
-Use towels only once and no sharing! When you have lots of little ones it's easy to line them all up after bath and pat them down before getting them dressed but this is a sure way to spread the Molluscum! Whatever towel I used for my son I would make sure and take it straight to the washer. More laundry for awhile but it is so worth it!
-Gummy Vitamins with Vitamin C boost to help his immune system fight of the virus from the inside
*I've read that the virus can't live on clothing etc but it was still worth it to me to be extra careful not to give it any chance of spreading.
I was too embarrassed to talk about the Molluscum with anyone but once they started to clear up I started talking about it and realized A LOT of people I talked to had kids with it or knew someone that did! I hope this blog will find them and they can get rid of them like we did!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment