Viral warts

The pimple-like eruptions on children’s faces and bodies take longer time to heal

An appearance of pimply eruptions on the face could perturb the parents of a primary school child more than the little one. Apart from being unsightly it would disturb them into thinking that the child is precocious. But if the pimply eruptions appea r in bunches and fail to heal in a couple of weeks that the regular acne would do, quite likely, the child has been affected with a virus causing molluscum contagiosum.

Molluscum appears in bunches and often on the exposed parts of the body - face, hands, arms and sometimes over the tummy and the back too. These eruptions appear like pale, pearly dome shaped eruptions with a central dimple or a pit. These usually occur in clusters and are quite common in children around the age of five apart from nursery kids and young adults. Unlike pimples or acne they take longer to heal, say about nine months to sometimes more than a year. This virus can spread from one child to the other through common toys they play with or even with touch but the virulence is not high and every child exposed to the virus need not develop it. Gradually the eruptions heal and form crusts and remain. The child remains healthy, bright and sprightly as ever with just the distraction of these shiny eruptions on the face. Occasionally the child may complain of itching and if there is scratching, there is an oozing of white, cheesy material exuding out. This could lead to a secondary infection apart from which there is no issue with this condition at all. In adults too this condition can occur albeit in a lesser degree and is more evident in the armpits and groins.

Homoeopathic medicine helps speed up the healing process instead of waiting for the spots to get better on their own accord. Calcarea ars and Kali iod are a couple of remedies which help heal these eruptions even as they tend to start forming suddenly. Mercurius helps such a problem when the redness of the eruptions is more prominent and Silicea when the children are prone to skin problems.