My son has lots of warts

Child with eczema

Fine, dark hair on my daughter's back

My child suffers from severe eczema

Question
My son is nearly six years old. He has eight warts near his arm pit, one on his arm, six warts on his knee and one on the back of his knee.

They all vary in size from the size of a pinhead to the size of a grain of corn.

I have recently been told that if a large number of warts are left untreated they can cause problems.

I just wanted to make sure I am doing the right thing in leaving them to go away by themselves, as he won't let me treat them because he had a large wart frozen off his toe about four months ago.

Answer
From your description, the warts your son has over various parts of his body are probably due to a virus infection called molluscum contagiosum .

This is a common skin infection in young children and it produces small, pearly white bumps ranging in size from 1mm to 1cm in diameter.

They can occur on any part of the skin surface but are most common around the armpits, the sides of the trunk, lower abdomen, buttocks and genital area.

You are quite right to leave the little bumps alone as they will eventually disappear spontaneously, although it may be several months before this happens.

There are various treatments that can be used to try and get rid of the molluscum spots, including freezing them with liquid nitrogen, applying a chemical such as phenol, or traumatising the spots by squeezing or scratching them, but all these methods may cause scarring.

There is less risk of scarring if the spots are left to heal naturally, so unless there is some pressing need to get rid of them quickly, I think you would be wise to leave them alone.

Yours sincerely

The Medical Team