★★★☆☆
To start off, I had Mollescum Contagiosum for a year and one week and told myself the entire time that when I got rid of the infection I would compile and post a list of treatments that I tried and how well they worked for me. The worst part of having this virus is how hopeless and depressing it can be when you constantly apply treatments but it keeps coming back, so hopefully someone with MC stumbles on this story and finds if helpful.
So here's my story: I'm a 26 year old male and 14 months ago, 3 months after ending my last relationship, I discovered a bunch of small white bumps and some pink bumps on my lower abs and pubic area. The first time I noticed them there were maybe 6, and a couple days later there were around 30. I panicked – I googled STDs and self diagnosed myself with mollescum. I read about the virus and treatment options on medical websites and felt like treatments were very limited.
There are a bunch of websites out there that claim to have a cheap cure and I was desperate enough to pay $15 to one of them even though it seemed suspicious; basically it gave me detailed instructions on how to apply the most common cure out there: apple cider vinegar. I ended up using ACV as my primary treatment for 8 months. I would dip cotton makeup pads or balls into the ACV, put them on the mollescum, cover with a waterproof bandaid, and put adhesive tape over the bandaids so they wouldn't come off. I would generally leave these on for 9-12 hours. I found that this worked decently and got rid of the bumps on the first try over half the time. The biggest issue was that the soaked cotton balls/pads were difficult to keep on in some places, like when I had bumps appear on my foreskin.
A week after self diagnosing I went to the STD clinic so they could confirm; they recommended using nitrogen to freeze the bumps off and I was willing to give it a try. Personally I think this was a mistake. While the nitrogen didn't really hurt, it left scarring that I was self conscious about. Most of the scars disappeared 6 months later, but I still have a few where I had bumps that I also applied ACV on. I think the treatment was effective, but I didn't go back again because of the scarring.
About a month after starting treatments I entered a cycle of getting rid of any new molluscum that I saw, being clear for a week, two weeks, a month, or two months, and then having another outbreak.
The next treatment I tried was Cimetidine. Basically Cimetidine is an outdated heartburn medication, but there were some studies done with it that showed promising effects on eliminating molluscum (I should note that most of these studies were done on children). I got a prescription for the pills and took 800mg 3 times daily for 2 months. It was ineffective.
At the two and a half month mark I tried to replace ACV with a lotion I ordered online called Mollenol. It didn't have too many reviews but they were on a few websites/forums and were generally positive. It worked worse than ACV, but it did work after a few of days of applications. I don't recommend Mollenol though – it stings a lot. This stuff dripped down to my scrotum and foreskin (as a liquid lotion tends to) and I was in searing, blinding agony. The same goes for Mollenol “Sensitive”.
Eight months after my first outbreak I saw a dermatologist who recommended using Veregen ointment. Veregen has the chemical name Sinecatechins 10% and is generally used to treat genital warts. It's a thick paste that's easier to apply and keep on mollescum bumps, and if applied 2-3 times a day the bumps are usually gone in a day or two. This is what I was using for the final four months of being infected, and I had an outbreak of 2-4 bumps once a month.
A year into having the virus I had my final outbreak. I was busy for several days in a row and wasn't able to stay home to apply treatments. On the day that I finally could find time I checked for the bumps before heading to work and they were gone. It was bittersweet after all the effort I applied to getting rid of molluscum, but my body finally recognized the virus and fought it off on its own.
I've held my breath for over two months to make sure it's gone for good, and at this point I think it's safe to say that I'm molluscum free. I know the above story is pretty damn long, but I've tried to put in all the relevant and useful details and stay away from how much of an emotional toll it's taken on me. Truly, I hope this helps someone.
