Harmless enlargement of oil glands, often on the adult face. Molluscum contagiosum is a common viral skin infection that causes small, firm, dome-shaped bumps with a dimple in the middle. It is harmless, it spreads easily among children, and it clears on its own - though that can take a year or more.
The same eight facts on every condition comparison.
Sebaceous Hyperplasia Rounded pale-yellow bumps have a shallow indentation in the center.
Pearly bumps with a central dimple Smooth, shiny and dome-shaped, with a tiny dip in the center.
Clusters Groups in skin folds.
Oil-gland lobules enlarge around a follicular opening. The enlarged gland creates a small bump, often with a central depression.
The molluscum virus infects surface skin cells and causes them to enlarge. A small smooth bump develops, often with a characteristic central dimple.
Sebaceous Hyperplasia. Usually develops in middle or later adult life.
Molluscum Contagiosum. Most common in young children; adults can also acquire it, including through sexual contact.
Enlarged sebaceous-gland lobules surround a follicular opening.
Molluscum contagiosum is caused by a poxvirus that infects the top layer of skin.
Evidence labels come from each condition’s own treatment list.
For the dry itchy eczema-like patch that develops around the bumps in about a third of children — not for the bumps themselves. Treating it properly matters, because the itch drives the scratching and the scratching is what spreads the infection. Use it on the skin between and around the bumps, thinly and for a short course. Strong steroid creams applied over the bumps calm the redness and can help the virus stay longer.
The wart products in the pharmacy are the wrong tool here. Molluscum is a poxvirus, not the wart virus, and the bumps are soft domes rather than thickened skin for an acid to dissolve. On thin skin, on a child, and on thirty bumps at once, it mostly buys irritation and dark marks. If a bump is going to be treated, the clinic options are more reliable and better controlled.
A common suggestion, usually combined with iodine, and the evidence behind it is a small number of low-quality studies. Against an infection that clears by itself, that is very hard to read. The real drawback is that it stings and it commonly causes an allergic rash on children's skin, which then itches, which then gets scratched.
Berdazimer gel. A newer prescription gel mixed and applied at home once a day, designed specifically for molluscum. In its trials about a third of children had all their bumps clear at twelve weeks, against roughly one in five given the placebo gel — a real effect, but a modest one. Redness and irritation where it is applied are common, and cost and availability are the practical limits.
A dilute alkaline solution dabbed on individual bumps at home, usually once or twice a day until each bump becomes inflamed and then clears. It is cheap and it can be done without appointments. It stings, it works by irritating the skin, and it can leave dark or pale marks if it is overdone — so it goes on the bumps only, and starting with a few is sensible.
A retinoid dabbed onto individual bumps to irritate them into clearing. It is sometimes chosen for bumps on the face, where blistering or scraping is less appealing. The evidence for it in molluscum is thin, it is slow, and it makes the skin around the bumps red and flaky, which is its own reason to scratch.
This one was studied properly in children, in two large trials, and it did not work any better than the placebo cream — while causing more skin reactions, and in some children pain and swelling. It is still prescribed for molluscum out of habit. On the evidence there is, it should not be.
An old stomach-acid tablet, taken by mouth for several weeks in the hope of nudging the immune system into recognizing the virus. It appeals because it is painless and needs no procedure, which matters for a frightened child with many bumps. The trials do not support it, and it interacts with a number of other medicines, so it is a long shot rather than a plan.
A clinician may treat bothersome lesions; recurrence and scarring are possible.
A blistering liquid painted onto each bump in the clinic and washed off a few hours later at home. A small blister forms over the next day and the bump lifts off with it. It is painless to apply, which is why it suits children, and it usually takes two or three visits. It is not used on the face or the genitals, and it can leave a dark or pale mark, so a few bumps are treated first to see how the skin reacts.
The bumps are scraped off with a small looped instrument, usually after numbing cream has been left on for an hour. It is the fastest option — most of a crop can be dealt with in one visit — and it is the one that gives an immediate result. It is uncomfortable even with numbing, small children often find it distressing, and it can leave small marks or pitted scars where bumps were deep.
Each bump is frozen for a few seconds, and it usually takes several visits a few weeks apart. It works, and it is quick. It also stings sharply at the time, which most young children will not sit through twice, and it leaves dark or pale marks more readily than the other options — a real consideration on deeper skin tones, where those marks can last longer than the infection would have.
Confirmed sebaceous hyperplasia is harmless and does not need treatment. Existing bumps may persist, and new or recurrent bumps can appear after cosmetic treatment.
Molluscum is self-limiting and usually clears within six to eighteen months, occasionally two years or more in children with eczema. The shape of the course catches people out, because the bumps do not all appear at the start and fade together.
A secure diagnosis matters because other lesions can look similar.
Bacterial infection
A bump that has been scratched or torn open can let ordinary skin bacteria in, and it can turn into impetigo. This is the one thing that looks like the harmless red flare of a bump clearing, so the difference is worth knowing: redness that spreads outward into the skin around the bump, warmth, pus, or fever means it needs checking that week. A single angry bump with normal skin around it is usually good news. Keeping nails short and covering broken bumps is most of the prevention.
Marks and scars from picking
Molluscum itself does not scar. Small round pitted scars come from picking, deep scratching and treatments that burn or blister the skin harder than they needed to. Flat dark or pale marks are far more common and are not scars — they fade over months, more slowly on deeper skin tones. Leaving the bumps alone, treating the itchy skin around them, and starting with a few bumps rather than thirty is how most of this is avoided.
Bumps on the eyelid
A bump on the eyelid margin or very close to the eye can rub the surface of the eye and cause a red, watery, irritated eye that does not settle. It is uncommon, and it is one of the few molluscum situations that should not simply be waited out. The bumps here are treated carefully rather than frozen or scraped, and an eye assessment is sometimes needed as well.
Have a new, growing, bleeding, painful or otherwise changing lesion examined.
Seek advice for uncertain lesions, extensive disease, eyelid involvement or weakened immunity. Adults with genital bumps should be assessed for other possible causes.
Harmless enlargement of oil glands, often on the adult face.
Avoid picking or home removal. Protect exposed skin from the sun.
Have a new, growing, bleeding, painful or otherwise changing lesion examined.
Usually six to eighteen months, sometimes longer, with new bumps appearing while older ones clear. That is the normal course, not a sign something is wrong. Children with eczema are at the longer end.
Most often it is clearing. As the immune system recognizes the virus, bumps become red, swollen and tender, sometimes crusted, then disappear — the beginning-of-the-end sign. Genuine bacterial infection is possible, so redness spreading outward with warmth, pus or fever should be checked the same week.
No. Molluscum is not a reason to miss school, nursery or swimming. Cover the bumps where practical, use your own towel, and do not share kickboards and floats.
Not for medical reasons - it clears on its own and leaves nothing behind if left alone. Treating is reasonable when the bumps are in an awkward place, being scratched raw, very numerous, keeping eczema stirred up, or when the family has had enough.
The infection itself does not scar. Scars come from picking, deep scratching or aggressive treatment. Flat dark or pale marks where bumps sat are not scars - they fade over several months, more slowly on deeper skin tones.
In adults, molluscum in the groin, genitals and inner thighs is usually passed through sexual contact, so it is worth being seen and worth testing for other sexually transmitted infections. It can also arrive by ordinary skin contact or shared towels, including from a child in the house, so it is not proof of anything.
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