Quick Look
- Pearl-like, painless, skin-coloured eruptions
- Eruptions are umbilicated (having a slight central depression)
- Most commonly seen in children
Commonest locations:
Children- face, trunk and extremities
Adults- trunk, thighs and genitals
The following features are characteristic molluscum contagiosum. symptoms:
- The bumps (papules) are painless and often flesh-coloured and appear like tiny pearls
- Eruptions are small, usually within 5 mm. in diameter, although they can be bigger occasionally
- They have a dimpled centre and the core of the papule is filled with waxy material that is home of the infecting virus
- There is usually, no pain or itching (unless superadded bacterial infection occurs). Very occasionally, the lesions may bleed
- Lesions crust and heal over a span of 6-12 weeks, but new mollusca may erupt, prolonging the duration of the disease to a year or even more
- The most important aspect to note is that Molluscum Contagiosum spreads by contact.
Molluscum contagiosum symptoms are crucial to the dermatologist in daily clinical practice for diagnosis.
