Molescum

So, this post is about 6 months past the point, but I just found a picture and thought that I should post our molescum drama, in case you ever have it at your house.
Eons ago...all right, it was right around Lindsay's 5th birthday, I noticed these little "bumps" on her arms.  They looked like zits.  We left them alone.  When I took her in to the doctor for something else, I asked about them.  He said they would just go away.  So I left them alone.  3 months later, they were everywhere!  I took her back in and he prescribed retin-a - yes, the zit cream.  We did it faithfully for a week, until her skin starting falling off and itching like crazy, which resulted in her scratching the bumps and spreading them even more.  (Keep in mind she has VERY sensitive skin with excema).  So we stopped the treatment.  I found an all natural cure with tea tree in it and we did that for 30 days.  Totally didn't do anything.
Next paragraph is TMI...skip it if you want to...but you know you'll read it anyway...
Some them starting looking irritated, just like a zit that needed to be picked.  So I tried to pick them.  Lindsay, of course, freaked out.  So, I started picking them when she was asleep.  Mean mom, I know.  They would go away,  but leave big nasty red scars.  She had one on her leg that started oozing when I was medicating them one night.  I called Jeramy in and he held her down while I squeezed (and dry heaved) and squeezed (and dry heaved) as about a pound of puss came out.  The entire time Lindsay was screaming and crying and saying things like "I"m done!  Stop" and "Why are you doing this to me??"

At this point, I realized we were not going to win this battle.  So I called a dermatologist.  We went in and she was down right shocked that my pediatrician had prescribed retin-a.  She dabbed this stuff called "bettle juice" - kid you not - on each and every bump.  She had over 100 at this point.  We had to leave it on for 8 hours while the bumps turned into blisters.  Then I bathed her and the blisters oozed all over.  (More dry heaving).  I put her to bed and in the morning, she was "crunchy."  Her words, not mine.  They had oozed all night.  I bathed her again.  (more dry heaving).  They looked awful for a few weeks and I was afraid I'd given her 100 scars for life, but then they started to fade.  Now, you'd have to look really close to know they were there.  Some just look like freckles. This picture was a few days after the treatment. 

Moral to the story...if you see ANY of these little bumps on your child, don't mess around!  They are highly contagious.  I am amazed that none of my other kids got them.  Go to a dermatologist and just get them treated.  The dermatologist said they go hand in hand with excema and children with asthma and allergies.  The quicker they are treated, the easier they will go away.  Because hers were so old, the doctor thought she would need 2 treatments, but she didn't.  If fact, there were a few that weren't treated, they "got scared" and went away on their own.