If you have read my first post on MC, you know all the ups and downs I've had with this, and the path that ACV was taking me. Although, it was working, it wasn't fast enough. Plus it was burning my daughter's skin (more on this below). I was on the right path but hit a few bumps before reaching the end. Now that I 'm here, it was totally worth it, and although she may not agree, it was also worth it for my girl. She can now wear anything she likes in this hot Florida weather without fear of showing off those nasty bumps or infecting anyone else.
Here's a quick summary of what was going on before:
- My daughter started with about 24 MC when I finally decided to do something about them.
- I didn't do anything sooner because I listened to the doctors advice about them going away on its own, when she only had less than 5. I'm sure they do, but years is an unreasonable amount of time to wait.
- I started the treatment too aggressively at first, and in this situation MORE is not better. I applied too much ACV, on too big of a cotton ball, on way too many MC at a time. It burned her skin. Not a serious burn. It was more superficial, but it did scab like when you get skid burn from falling off your bike. It has since healed and she has no scars. Thank goodness!
- After treating a few, I got lazy (I was about 7 months pregnant or so) and was also scared since I had already burned her ( I felt so guilty) and they spread. She now had about 30 of them. (dang it!)
- I wanted to get rid of these before the new baby came. I was able to do it within 2-4 weeks after this. It would have been sooner but I only had access to a pool on the weekends (more info below on why a pool)
This info below was part of my original post. The parts in RED are any changes or updates.
WHAT I LEARNED SO FAR (In General)
1. Don't sit on your butt. Even if your doctor says it will go away on its own, do some research, and figure out what other approach may work for you. Doctors don't prescribe holistic, or home remedies, and who knows, they may just work. You have to wait it out anyway, right? Had I listened to my gut earlier on, I would have been tackling a few, and not 24
2. Don't give up! There are many, many, many posts out there of what has worked, and hasn't worked, for many people. This is a good thing. It gives us many options to play with. Maybe you luck out on your first attempt, and maybe you have to try two, or three remedies, before finding out what works best with your body. Either way you have to LET IT RUN ITS COURSE, so why not try different things in the meantime. ACV is what worked for us. Tea tree oil and Hydrogen Peroxide did not. However, don't eliminate them from your list.
3. Be patient. It might take 2 weeks to clear up on someone and 2 months on someone else. Remember, our immune systems help with the curing of this virus. We don't all have the same one. I believe with my method, and if your have around the same amount, they should be gone in no time. However, accessibility, location of MC, age, amount treated at one time, etc. will factor in on this.
4. Take vitamins. I knew I had to attack this from the outside and the inside. My daughter is a picky eater and veggies and fruits were not going to cut it. I started her on a gummy multi-vitamin. I later realized there was one for the immune system. I will get that next time. Doesn't hurt
5. WASH everything! I didn't repeat her outfits, and I used ONE towel every day, and I changed her bed sheets once a week. During that week, I sprayed the living daylights out of it with Lysol. All it takes is one little flake of skin to pass this virus around. I tried my best. I sprayed down everything that came in contact with her clothes or body daily with Lysol. After researching, I came across some info that the virus doesn't live on surfaces. It thrives in moist areas, hence the warnings of not to share towels or bathing suits, and how its believed to be contracted through water. Clothes can also get moist with sweat so don't share those. However, I also read that the virus dies off once item is dry, if not immediately no more than a few hours. This is where I got some of this information : Life of Molluscum on formites and transmission
6. Anti-Bacterial is our friend. Wash your hands and their hands with soap and warm water as often as possible and then squirt some anti-bacterial just in case. This is what we did. This may not kill viruses but it gave me peace of mind.
7. Exposure. If you are lucky enough to have them someplace where they can be covered up do so. Not necessarily with bandages, but with clothes. This helps in keeping others virus free. Make sure your kids wear pants and t-shirts over them. It's hard, but just be mindful. Someone wasn't with me and look at all I've been through. If you don't have molluscum, stay away from anyone that does. For adults: Its like an STD and contagious through sex because of the skin to skin contact. So let your partners know, or better yet, stay zipped up. Yeah, still cover up. They are contagious through touch because the white part is the virus and if exposed infect others. Or if two sweaty kids or adults hug, bump into each other, etc this can also spread it.
WHAT I LEARNED SO FAR (with ACV)
1. TAKE THAT! The ACV works best in scabbing the larger ones that are really white. Try getting these first. If they have a lot of bumps, it can get overwhelming for both you, and them. Putting the ACV on non puffy white ones was a waste of time and material. Not to mention this contributed to the burning of the skin. Only try to tackle a few at a time. Usually they don't get white and puffy at the same time. If they do, only apply the cotton ball soaked on the largest of the bunch, then, with a ACV soaked q-tip, apply on the less large white ones until the next day.
2. BATHS I did NOT give her baths. I didn't want to risk them spread to her privates. Her bumps were all on her back, around the under part of her armpit. Still didn't do this. Instead I let her go for long swims in the pool. ONLY a pool. The chlorinated water served as a "bleach bath" and I felt like the ratios were going to be more on point then my mixtures.
3. WATER EXPOSURE I noticed my daughters got puffier and whiter AFTER being exposed to water for a good while....at least 20 minutes or more. I let her run in the sprinklers. If you are unable to use sprinklers for any reason, or use a chlorinated pool (there is no proof its spreads in chlorine), I suggest letting them wear a t-shirt, and let them enjoy a long SHOWER (not bath). I suggest the t-shirt because it will keep the bumps moist for a good while. Dry them off as soon as they come out of the shower. Now I believe, the pool or my 2nd method below, are more effective than the sprinklers. In fact, I wouldn't let her run in the sprinklers now if she had MC for fear of them spreading. A quick shower I cant avoid, but that's it. I don't want to help them spread.
METHOD 1: I let my daughter play in a chlorinated pool. After she was in there a good hour or more, some of the more mature MC came out white. Some bigger and some smaller, but white nonetheless. I immediately applied an ACV soaked cotton (small piece) with a Band-Aid on the larger ones. Just a few at a time. Use judgment on how many are enough. For my 5 years old I took on about 4-5 at a time. I left the ACV on several hours. Once the cotton dried, I DID NOT remove it. I used a dropper (for medicine) and soaked the same cotton ball with ACV again. After a couple more hours I would peel the Band-Aid off. They were either black or gray. Those would scabbed over within the next day. The black ones within a few hours to a day. The gray ones a couple of days.
METHOD 2: I live in Florida so finding a pool, or the beach, isn't hard for me to get to. For those who can't get to one, I suggest applying a cotton ball covered with a Band-Aid but soak the cotton ball in water instead of ACV. Leave that on for a few hours. Soak again in water if needed with dropper until the MC is really puffy and white. Once MC get white then apply the ACV. You can reapply it to the same cotton ball or change it. This method takes a bit longer but should also be effective.
METHOD 2: I live in Florida so finding a pool, or the beach, isn't hard for me to get to. For those who can't get to one, I suggest applying a cotton ball covered with a Band-Aid but soak the cotton ball in water instead of ACV. Leave that on for a few hours. Soak again in water if needed with dropper until the MC is really puffy and white. Once MC get white then apply the ACV. You can reapply it to the same cotton ball or change it. This method takes a bit longer but should also be effective.
4. STEPS Once they are dried up from the shower, start you ACV process.
- pick out puffiest/whitest bumps first (only do a few at a time)
- poke the bigger ones a bit to aggravate them. This seems to help. Use Q-tip. No need to do this with the 2 steps above.
- dry area well
- place half of band aid over selected bump
- dip cotton ball in ACV. Squeeze some of the excess but not completely dry.
- place in middle of band aid
- seal up other half of band aid
5. TIME. If you do this during the day and are able to reapply, do so. Once the cotton dries up, remove them with tweezers from inside the band aid, and insert a newly moist cotton ball. Leave this on for a few more hours. Then remove bandages off completely. I found the sleeping with the bandages was unnecessary since the ACV does dry up in a couple of hours. No need for them to be sleeping uncomfortably. I would only suggest this if your little one picks and pulls the bandages while awake. I stopped removing the cotton ball and just reused it by soaking again with a dropper. My daughter didn't like the removal of the cotton ball and the replacement so this saved her some anguish. Towards the end I would let her sleep with 2-3 bandages if they didn't bother her.
6. Vinegar is acidic and burns. It was very hard for me to put the band aids on a squirmy, whiny kid, so I opted not to put such a small piece of cotton on the bumps. This did cause some burning of the outer layer of skin. This also only occurred on the ones that scabbed over first. If you see that the skin becomes to irritated give it a few days. Let it heal, and then continue. Some people dilute it a bit with water, but I didn't do this. If it burns their skin too much, then stop for a while, and try again. If it continues to hurt their skin, apart from just a bit of stinging, this may not be suitable for them. Don't give up if at first it burns. I did and they spread. Just take it easier. Try one with less ACV or try to dilute the vinegar with a bit of water. It may slow the process a bit, but that's ok. However, if you tackle the large white ones, it shouldn't even be enough time for it to burn the skin. Unless you have extremely sensitive skin, apply too much, or on certain areas. Area will get red but that goes away within a few days.
7. The Mighty scab. Once the bumps scab, I wouldn't put anymore ACV because it will hurt. Instead, put some Neosporin and cover with a band aid. One two of ours, once the band aid was removed, the scab was stuck on the band aid. If the area still looks like its healing, clean it off with some hydrogen peroxide, and reapply the Neosporin. I stopped putting Neosporin. They healed on their own and fell off fine.
8. Scarring. Yes, it might leave scars. I think they will eventually look like chicken pox scar. Burning them off will leave scars, too. I don't mind a few small round scars. I can live with them and since my daughter is only 5, and has a lot of growing to do, I don't think they will be that big of a deal. Anything to get rid of these pesky bumps. You can try some ointment like Maderma afterwards for scars, Vitamin E, or maybe even aloe. I am not doing any of these as of yet. YES, she has small craters. They look just like chicken pox marks. I am sure these will disappear as her skin stretches with growth. She's 5.
SUPPLIES:
1. Vinegar I used the Walmart brand vinegar. I believe it was about $3.50 for the large bottle.
2. Cotton balls
3. Q-tips
4. Hydrogen peroxide pointless
5. Band aids (a lot) or medical tape (sensitive one) Medical tape didn't work. Band aids did.
6. Neosporin No need.
I really hope this helps all of you. Again, I am not a doctor or anyone with any medical knowledge. I am simply a mom who was at her wits end. This worked for us. I was skeptical when I first read about it, but it was worth a shot. I also didn't want to spend big bucks, that I didn't have, on expensive medicine, that may or may not have worked. I spent less than $20 on the ACV and less than $45 with the Tea Tree oil and materials I bought before.
Please leave me your feedback, your own experiences, share your stories and any remedy that worked for you. I would love to hear them!
