r/molluscum

Thanks in advance

Edit: he says they don’t itch, but they hurt really bad if he accidentally bumps them, kinda like a boil.

Update on my extraction. Today is day 8. First photo is how they looked 8 hours after extracting and second photo was today.
One popped up on my pubic area and I got it out. I’ll keep taking them out as they come, so far I feel like I’m healing up well. Idk if the one from today was one I had missed because today I trimmed after weeks of not shaving and i noticed a bump.
Anyone have scar cream recs? Some you can’t even see anymore but I feel like the bigger ones may scar 🤔 I’m not sure though yet, it’s still early.

I’m just here in hopes to make others feel less alone with their small micro lesions. In my opinion these are the worst because they’re very hard to spot, and hard to treat as well. These bumps tend to appear and spread a little more vigorously than the ones that tend to be bigger in size because they go so unnoticed. I know many people probably feel crazy wondering if that small pimple looking thing is really mc? Well I’m here to tell you, if you’ve never had pimples or prior skin issues before this virus, it very well could be!

This isn’t to scare anyone, and I am not a doctor, but I have confirmed from dermatologists that these are MC & I’ve spoken with many other people who have this virus and share the same lesions. You’re not crazy for analyzing your skin closely when you have bumps as small as these, you’re not over reacting.

And truth is, this virus affects everyone’s skin type differently, so if someone else’s lesions are big and have a huge pearly indication, it doesn’t always mean yours will too. It’s unfortunate that this isn’t taken more seriously. Everyone who has this and has smaller lesions are pretty much left to their own devices in terms of how to rid it, or they just have to ride it out. I can’t tell you how many times my dermatologist said “that’s not MC” and then cut into it, and found the white pearly core lol.. then apologized to me! They don’t grow much in size- they only tend to take on a more pearly shape!

Again not to scare anyone, just to raise awareness that the lesions can be very tiny, and skin colored. Making it very hard to treat or notice at first. A reminder you’re not insane for noticing the changes in your skin!

recently started getting mollescum on my arms. REALLY paranoid of it spreading. is this acne or mollescum?????

Hi guys does this look like molluscum?? please help!

If it is what do I do ?

This is mc?

ive had a fleshy hard bump for about a month. i would squeeze and nothing would come out. it didnt really itch and wasnt painful (still isnt painful to touch). it didnt really seem to have a whitehead or anything. but when taking flash photos it seemed that there was something inside or maybe it was just lighter skin.

i got seen by two gynos who said it was nothing to worry about. throughout this time i shaved as usual.

a week ago i started doing warm compress and it started to get a little red. got seen by a derm who didnt know what it was but didnt seem concerned and just gave me clindamycin.

i still felt something was wrong and applied tretinoin at night (i figured if its an ingrown it would come out or if its mollusculum i heard it could help)

now it looks more pimple like. but from the side view its pointy and not round like ive seen mollusculum. what do you guys think?

Another update for those that asked
Photo #1: this was taken yesterday (day 5 post self extraction) as you can see, I have one circled. Today I realized there was still apart of the core in there. I went swimming in a chlorine pool, I got out and noticed a very small white head, I picked it right off and sanitized my hands and the area before and after. Bled like hell. But Im almost 100% sure that was the very last one.
Photo #2: this was taken just now, I have bandaids covering the ones that are not fully scabbed over yet. As well as the one I finished extracting today. These fuckers are ruthless! But I think being in a chlorine pool helped push the rest of the core out bc it literally came out so easy.

So far, so good.

I got cryotherapy two days ago and I haven’t covered them & I was wondering if I should there on my inner groin area

I just wanted to continue to post my self extraction journey for all who are interested, in my personal opinion, this is the only way to clear them up as fast as possible if you can’t get into a derm asap to get them removed. I’ve dealt with them for 3 months.
The first picture is when I noticed my molluscum (2 months ago), the second photo is after I pissed them off (inflamed and cores are ready to extract), the 3rd photo was taken 8 hours after extraction. The 4th photo is what my wounds look like today (5 days later). I’m Healing up incredible, no new bumps since. If you’re thinking about self extracting— do it. I’ve posted how I did it in this group, if you need help finding my post, the link to my post is in the comments. 🙏💙 best of luck.

EDIT: I did not know I had molluscum up until a couple weeks ago. That first photo was taken on May 29th when I noticed they were spreading. The second photo was taken July 29th (one month later) after finding this forum. For 2 days, I dabbed apple cider vinegar on them to piss them off, then applied pimple patches for 2 days straight. Once I knew they were angry and could see the core, I started my extraction process. Before extraction, I took a Dead Sea salt bath (but a shower will do just fine) because it helped make the core more noticeable and easy to extract.

hey guys, so I’ve been battling this since Late October / Early November 2025 (8 Months) obviously when I first noticed them the panic settles in. Attended a local Sexual health clinic and the doctor immediately said it’s Molluscum. He did Cryotherapy on them and as expected it scabbed. Also had blood works done and results were all clear. Now 8 months later and I have still continued to have bumps grow. These bumps tend to show up and turn into Scabs after 2-4 days. Not sure if that’s my immune system clearing it out quicker?

Based on your experience does this look like Molluscum? I’ve seen many cases on reddit where doctors misdiagnose them. These are on my private parts. They aren’t painful, don’t turn into sores. And never really have more than 1 - 8 very tiny bumps at the same time.

Please drop a comment on your thoughts

I tried the apple cider vinegar method with cotton pads. Sometimes i left them on the bumps for 30 mins and other nights for the whole bight and removed them in the morning. After 3 days, two bumps scabbed over and those scabs came off. Early this morning, i put a bandaid over it. It was stinging a little but i didn’t think much of it. After i removed the old bandaid and put a new one on, it started stinging again so i didn’t put one on and just wore underwear. I went to work and afterwards i checked and i saw this! Mind you, the area still stung while i was at work, on and off. The area still stung while water hit it in the shower. Somebody please help me, im panicking.

TLDR: Irritation/inflammation of the MC and extraction are the way. Full stop. Invest in a plasma pen.

Here is our journey with the beast that is Molluscum. My son who’s 9 had a teenie tiny spot on his navel for a long time, roughly 8 months. I thought it was MC but knew from my nephews experience that nothing really worked except time….or so I thought. They started to multiply and grow larger. The spread happened quickly. He got them on his stomach, under arm, inner thigh, groin area, penis and forehead 😩 On May 10 one randomly got infected with Staph. So I kicked into gear and got on Reddit. Through trial and error this is what I found.

1. Clean towels every shower
   2.Paper towels for hand drying
2. Antibacterial soap for regular hand washing. Squirt 91% alcohol on hands if you’ve scratched or touched them. I kept little spray bottles in my car, purse you name it.
3. Showers only, wash body with chlorhexidine.
4. Pimple patch until the lesion is red, puffy and irritated.
5. Extract with needle or tweezers. After a shower is ideal. They get real big and plump after a shower and the skin is softer.
   Extraction process: clean area with 91 alcohol. Clean your needle and tweezers with 91 alcohol, I kept a little dish with alcohol in it and dipped my extraction tools each time. I would pick the top of the lesion off and then stick the needle into the core and it would pop right out. Or I would burn the top with a plasma pen, cover for the night/day and extract following day. The skin on top of these things is super tough. Once the core is out it BLEEDS like crazy. Keep cotton pads close. Once his were out I used iodine to clean the would bc alcohol burns and it would wake him up. Let dry, cover with pimple patch or waterproof bandaid.
   A few of his took multiple extractions bc I couldn’t go all in bc he was sleeping.
6. Once you know it’s out and starting to heal use 41% zinc oxide cream (butt paste) on them, cover and leave covered for as long as possible. The ones I left covered with a waterproof bandaid and zinc literally fade so much faster than ones I didn’t.
7. Once they start to heal well I left them uncovered.
8. Every morning I took my phone light and turned it at a specific angle and I would do a full body check. This is how I caught any super tiny new ones early.

He developed some super small ones on his forehead. I was stresssssed. The penis was bad enough, but his forehead!! Lord help me. They were so small so I zapped them when he was sleeping with the plasma pen, iodine, covered with pimple patch. I did this three times. They never fully developed and disappeared within a few days. Never had to extract.

From extraction until healing was about 16 days. If I had zapped them with a plasma pen last year and covered them we wouldn’t have lived this total hell. It’s a real mind fuck because you’re so worried about spreading them to others, what people will think. We are both a little traumatized about the whole process. 😂☠️

The derm cleared me from MC last week. Altogether it took 3 ish months to get rid of any active lesions. Here’s what I did. 24, female, MC on sides of neck, did not spread anywhere else :)

What to do (imo)
- MIND OVER MATTER….push through this shit and stay clean you can’t take no breaks!!
- different towels, clean and wash everyday. I used one for one half of my body, one for bottom half, and one specifically for my neck where the MC was
- change pillow cases everyday
- hydrocolloid patches!!! Patch and change every night to protect and kill those motherfuckers!
- CONTROVERSIAL!!! I totally popped them with gloves with they got to the point of being poppable, then put a patch on them. I personally really recommend popping them safely!!!
- wash your hands constantly
- SHOWER EVERYDAY !!!!’ EVERYDAY.
- I drank emergencee everyday and take a zinc pill and vitamins !!!!
- hydrocortisone on ur spots with a q-tip
- shower > take off patches > pop SAFELY if they are ready if not hydrocortisone them > patch them with the hydrocolloid patches (pimple patches)
- subliminal to get rid of viruses playing while I went to bed on YouTube and praying (if ur into it)

This disease is horrible, but according to Reddit and google, I got rid of it pretty quickly!!! I really hope this helps and keep going DO NOT GIVE UP

*** my skin is now very sensitive to everything but better than having those damn spots ikr

Love you guys <3