Molluscum Contagiosum Treatment in Ahmedabad
Written and medically reviewed by Dr Arth Shah, MBBS (Gujarat University, 2009), MS General Surgery (Sardar Patel University, 2014), MCh Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery (B.J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, 2017). Gujarat Medical Council registration G-25994.
Molluscum contagiosum is a common, harmless viral skin infection that causes small pearly bumps with a dimple in the middle. It mostly affects children. In someone with a normal immune system it clears without any treatment, usually within six to eighteen months. Treatment shortens that, and it is worth it when the bumps are spreading, causing distress, in an awkward place, or in an adult. Curettage and cryotherapy are the usual options, from around Rs 500 to Rs 3,000 a session in Ahmedabad. If your child has a few bumps and is not bothered by them, waiting is a perfectly reasonable choice.
If you have found small pearly bumps on your child and searched what they are, you have probably already read that molluscum goes away by itself. That is true, and it is also not the whole answer. It does clear on its own – usually somewhere between six and eighteen months, occasionally longer. That is a long time to look at bumps on a child’s face, and it is long enough for them to spread, to get scratched, and for a child at school to start being asked about them. So the honest question is not how to get rid of molluscum. It is whether waiting makes sense in your situation. For plenty of children it does. For some it does not. This page sets out how to tell the difference, what the treatments actually involve, what they cost here, and what to do at home either way.
What it is, and how to recognise it
Molluscum contagiosum is caused by a virus. It produces small, firm, dome-shaped bumps, pearly or flesh-coloured, usually 3 to 5mm across – a little smaller than a pencil eraser. The giveaway is a small dimple in the centre of each one. They are not painful, and they can appear singly or in clusters.
They are sometimes called water warts, though they are not warts – warts are caused by a completely different virus and behave differently.
| Detail |
Where they appear | In children, most often on the trunk, face, eyelids and arms. In sexually active teenagers and adults, most often in the genital area. |
How long after exposure | Two to seven weeks typically, and it can be up to six months before anything appears. |
How they spread | Skin-to-skin contact, shared towels or bath water, and scratching one bump and then touching elsewhere – which is how a child with two ends up with twenty. |
How long they last | Until the immune system recognises the virus. Usually six to eighteen months, sometimes longer. |
Are they dangerous | No. Molluscum is harmless. It is a nuisance rather than a threat. |
Do they scar | Usually not, if left alone or picked out cleanly. Scratching and picking is what causes marks. |
One exception worth knowing. In someone with a weakened immune system, molluscum can be extensive, widespread and difficult to shift. In an adult, unusually widespread molluscum is a reason to look into why rather than simply to treat the bumps. It is uncommon, and it is worth a doctor knowing about.
Does it need treating at all?
Often, no – and it is worth saying that before anything else on a page selling treatment.
In a child with a normal immune system, molluscum clears by itself. The NHS puts it at around eighteen months and says treatment is not usually recommended. The clinical literature says much the same: the decision is a balance between the benefit of clearing it sooner and the discomfort and small scarring risk that treatment carries. That balance matters because the treatments are not pleasant. Curettage and cryotherapy both sting, and a five-year-old having fifteen bumps treated is having a genuinely unpleasant experience for something that was going to resolve anyway.
So the honest position: if your child has a handful of bumps, is not bothered by them, and they are not in an awkward place, waiting is a reasonable and evidence-based choice. We will tell you that at consultation rather than treating them because you came in.
When treatment is worth it
Waiting is not always right. There are clear situations where treating is the better call, and they are worth naming.
Situation | Why treat |
They are spreading quickly, or there are a lot of them | Each bump can seed more. Treating early limits how far it goes and how long the whole episode lasts. |
Your child is being teased, or is upset by them | Distress is a legitimate reason to treat. It is in the clinical guidance and it is not vanity. |
They are somewhere that gets knocked or rubbed | Repeated trauma causes bleeding, infection and marks. |
Your child has eczema | Broken skin spreads molluscum readily, and molluscum irritates eczema. The two make each other worse. |
An adult with genital lesions | Treated rather than waited out – see below. |
Anyone with a weakened immune system | Assessed properly rather than simply treated. |
A sibling keeps catching it back | Breaking the cycle is easier than waiting it out twice. |
The treatment options
Curettage
The core of each bump is lifted out with a small instrument. It is quick, it clears the lesion immediately, and it is the most reliably effective of the options – clearance rates are high and the cosmetic result is good. In children, numbing cream is applied first and left on long enough to work properly, which makes a substantial difference to how the appointment goes.
Cryotherapy
Each bump is frozen briefly with liquid nitrogen. Effective and well tolerated in adults and older children, and usually repeated every two to three weeks until they clear. It stings for a few seconds. In Indian skin it can leave a temporary pale or dark mark at the treated spot, which settles over weeks to months – worth knowing in advance rather than discovering afterwards.
Radiofrequency and laser
The lesion is destroyed with energy under topical or local anaesthetic. Precise and quick, and generally reserved for stubborn lesions or awkward sites rather than used as a first option – it costs more and is less comfortable than the alternatives. See our CO2 laser page.
Topical treatments
Several agents are applied at home over a period of weeks – potassium hydroxide solution is the one most used in India. They avoid a procedure entirely, which matters a great deal for a frightened child, and they are slower and frequently cause irritation around the treated spots. They suit a child with many lesions where treating each one individually would be an ordeal.
If this is your child
Most people reading this page are a parent looking at a child, so this section is written for you. Three things come up every time.
School and swimming
- School: they can go. Molluscum is not a reason to keep a child off school or nursery. Covering the bumps with clothing or a plaster where practical reduces spread, and beyond that normal life continues.
- Swimming: they can swim. Covering lesions with a waterproof plaster is sensible, and sharing towels, floats and kickboards is what actually spreads it rather than the water itself.
- Sport with skin contact is worth pausing if lesions are extensive or uncovered.
Stopping it spreading at home
- Try to stop scratching. This is the main one. Scratching a bump and touching elsewhere is how one becomes twenty. Keeping nails short helps more than any instruction.
- Do not share towels, flannels or bath water. Siblings bathing together is a common route.
- Cover them where you reasonably can – clothing, or a plaster on an exposed one.
- Treat eczema if there is any. Dry, broken, itchy skin spreads molluscum considerably faster.
- Do not try to squeeze them out. It spreads the virus, and it causes the marks that molluscum otherwise does not leave.
When they turn red – this is good news
At some point, often after many months, the bumps may become red, swollen and angry-looking. It looks exactly like an infection. It usually is not.
It means the immune system has finally recognised the virus and is clearing it. Doctors sometimes call it the BOTE sign – Beginning Of The End – and it typically appears in the weeks before the lesions disappear for good. It is frequently mistaken for infection, and it leads to antibiotics that were not needed. Genuine infection is different – it is usually one or two spots rather than many, with spreading redness beyond the bump, warmth, pus and sometimes fever. If you are unsure, it is worth having looked at. But redness across a lot of them, at the eight or ten month mark, is usually the end rather than a setback.
Molluscum in adults
Molluscum in adults is less common than in children and it usually appears in the genital area, where it is generally passed on through sexual contact. That is a factual point rather than a judgement, and it has two practical consequences.
- It is worth treating rather than waiting out, both for comfort and to avoid passing it on.
- Screening for other sexually transmitted infections is standard practice where genital molluscum is found in an adult, because anything transmitted that way can travel with company.
And a point specifically for parents, because it prevents an unnecessary worry: molluscum in the groin or genital area of a young child is common and is usually spread by ordinary means – scratching, bathing, or from lesions elsewhere on their own body. It does not carry the same implication as it does in an adult.
Cost of treatment in Ahmedabad
Treatment is inexpensive. A session of curettage or cryotherapy typically costs a few hundred to a few thousand rupees depending on how many lesions are being treated, and most people need one to three sessions. Waiting costs nothing.
Item | Typical cost in Ahmedabad |
Consultation and diagnosis | Contact our clinic |
Curettage, per session | Contact our clinic |
Cryotherapy, per session | Contact our clinic |
Radiofrequency or laser, per session | Contact our clinic |
Topical treatment | Contact our clinic |
Numbing cream for children | Contact our clinic |
Watchful waiting | Nothing |
What to expect afterwards
When | What happens |
Immediately after | Small red marks where the lesions were. Some pinpoint bleeding after curettage, which settles quickly. |
Days 1-7 | Scabbing over. Keep clean and dry as instructed. Do not pick. |
Week 2-4 | Scabs gone. Pink marks remaining, sometimes slightly pale or dark in Indian skin. |
Month 2-3 | Marks fading. Most disappear entirely. |
Ongoing | New bumps can still appear for a while – the virus takes time to clear from skin that was already exposed. That is not treatment failure. |
Other bumps and lumps we treat
These get confused with each other constantly, and there is no reason a parent should be able to tell them apart. If you are not sure, bring the child in and we will tell you.
If it is | Then |
Small, dome-shaped, pearly, with a dimple in the centre | Molluscum. This page. |
Rough, raised, sometimes with tiny dark dots | A wart – a different virus and a different treatment. |
Pigmented – brown, black or blue | |
Soft, skin-coloured, hanging on a small stalk | |
A smooth lump under the skin | |
Small and red, flat or slightly raised | Possibly a cherry angioma – blood vessels rather than a growth. Harmless. |
Your doctor: Dr Arth Shah, MS, MCh (Plastic Surgery)
Treatment at Rejuva Aesthetica is carried out by Dr Arth Shah, who completed his MBBS at Gujarat University in 2009, his MS in General Surgery at Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar in 2014, and his MCh in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at B.J. Medical College, Ahmedabad in 2017. He is registered with the Gujarat Medical Council under registration number G-25994 and has practised in Ahmedabad since 2018.
Book a consultation in Ahmedabad
A consultation takes about fifteen minutes. The lesions are examined and confirmed – molluscum is usually obvious, but warts and other bumps get confused with it. We will tell you honestly whether treatment is worth doing in your situation or whether waiting is the better choice, and if treatment makes sense you will be told the options, what each involves and what it costs before anything is done.
Rejuva Aesthetica – Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery Clinic 102, Himalaya Emerald, Besides IOC Petrol Pump, Near Shivranjani Over Bridge, Jodhpur, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380015 Phone: +91 74360 00990 | 079 2692 9299 Monday to Saturday, 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Closed Sundays and public holidays. |
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