Scarring in molluscum contagiosum: comparison of physical expression and phenol ablation

Abstract

Molluscum contagiosum is a benign viral skin disease occurring worldwide that commonly affects children. Spread may occur by autoinoculation or direct contact or via fomites. 1 In immunocompetent individuals each lesion may last 6-8 weeks. With continuous autoinoculation, however, new lesions appear over time, such that the mean duration is about 8 months, 2 with reports of infection lasting up to five years. 3 Although resolution is ultimately spontaneous, scarring may occur, particularly if the lesions are secondarily infected. Thus there may be justification for active intervention in the hope of speeding resolution and hence limiting scarring, transmission, and the period of social exclusion. Although many treatments are cited in the literature with destruction of the lesions as their common goal, 4 5 a systematic review has revealed little good trial evidence to support them (RMMacS, unpublished observations). We compared the efficacy and cosmetic results of two commonly cited treatments: physical expression by squeezing and chemical ablation with phenol.