I have a 7-year-old daughter who is a very sensitive soul. She is outgoing and assertive, even strong-willed, but she is very sensitive. She gets nervous easily and that translates into being very uncomfortable physically sometimes. Recently I have noticed she has been very quiet, withdrawn, and has had trouble keeping food down. I was concerned, and started to think she needed to see a doctor about it. Turns out, it was something I never thought of.
I got a call from our elementary school nurse last week. My daughter had gone to her for a bandaid because a "skin tag" under her arm was bleeding. The nurse called me very concerned. This "skin tag" was very large and inflamed, and it had torn and was bleeding. I started to get really worried. We found this months ago, and we've watched it grow in size fairly quickly. I hadn't seen it in quite some time, however, because she has not felt comfortable showing it to me. She is embarrassed by it and scared. That explains the behavior lately. So I immediately called and made an appointment with a dermatologist. That night, at bedtime, I asked her to show me the tag....I could not have possibly been prepared for what I saw. I had no idea it was that bad. (Insert feeling of failure as a mother here.)
We went to see the dermatologist yesterday. I was so fearful. I never showed my daughter, but I was. I have a lot of people in my family with different skin cancers, and a certain amount of dangerous medical knowledge as a surgeon's wife. Sometimes it helps to be oblivious to what things "could be". As it turns out, the "skin tag" is actually accompanied by some other smaller ones and is a virus. It is the same virus associated with chicken pox. These are also contagious, but by physical contact with the skin or clothing, towels, etc. that have touched the infected skin. She has one large one that is infected and is on antibiotics for that, and a cream to deal with the itching associated with it. She has been suffering with pain and severe itching....and I never even knew it. She had hidden it from me until she couldn't anymore. I am so sorry for her.
The dermatologist also treated all the spots with a mild acid that will gently and slowly eat away at the spots until they dry up completely. The large one will hopefully do the same, otherwise we will need to discuss freezing it off or laser treatment. I'm praying the acid and cream work.
The virus is called "molluscum contagiosum" and you can look it up on the CDC website. It is not contagious enough to spread it person to person without physical contact or sharing clothing or towels, but it is easily spread to other parts of the person's body by scratching the area and then touching another part of the body. It can be spread to the eyes and genitals easily, as well. I don't know how to insert a link, but I suggest moms everywhere go to the CDC website and check it out. They have a search bar at the top of the homepage.
I believe honestly, that this is today's version of the chicken pox - given that we now have the vaccine against those. The school nurse says she's actually seeing a lot of these cases, so it wouldn't surprise me if this is simply the manifestation of the old chicken pox virus. Still, I'll take a localized outbreak that is mildly contagious vs. a full-blown 2-week case of chicken pox ANY day!
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